Sun Wen and her husband plead not guilty to all additional charges
Sun Wen and her husband Hu Xiao, who were accused of illegally acting as agents of the Chinese government, appeared in court again in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York on June 30. After Judge Peggy Kuo announced the various charges against Sun Wen and Hu Xiao in the indictment and the additional indictment, the two pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case was originally expected to be officially tried between the end of June and the end of August, but because of the complexity of the case, the judge decided to postpone the trial of the case to November.
According to the second additional indictment released by the federal prosecutors on the 26th, at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, Sun Wen took advantage of the New York State government’s opportunity to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) in China to privately transfer contracts to companies that had personal connections with them but were not certified and recommended by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China or the Provincial Department of Commerce, and received kickbacks of millions of yuan from them. Sun Wen did not disclose her and Hu Xiao’s relationship with the two companies, nor did she disclose that they took part of the profits.
One of the companies was run by Sun Wen’s cousin, and the other was run by Hu Xiao and his business partners. Under Sun Wen’s coordination, the two companies signed several contracts for personal protective equipment with the New York State government. Between 2020 and 2021, Company A paid Sun Wen and Hu Xiao a total of approximately 2.3 million yuan. Hu Xiao obtained these incomes through money laundering and did not declare them. According to a form from Hu Xiao, he and Sun Wen expected to make more than 8 million yuan in profits from the contracts signed by Company A and Company B with the New York State Department of Health.
According to the indictment and two additional indictments, Sun Wen, 41, was charged with crimes including illegal acting as a foreign agent, visa fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, bringing in foreigners, bribery, and money laundering; Hu Xiao, 40, was charged with bank fraud, money laundering, abuse of identity, and tax evasion.
Last week, defense attorneys for both Sun Wen and Hu Xiao accused government prosecutors of “hastily” making up new theories to support their charges. The defense attorney left the court with the two defendants on the 30th without commenting.
The court was originally scheduled to officially hear the case between June 20 and August 23, but due to the complexity of the case and the addition of new charges to the two defendants, both the plaintiff and the defendant agreed to postpone the formal trial of the case. The judge initially scheduled the formal trial date to be November.
Judge Guo Peiyu also stated that the bail conditions for Sun Wen and Hu Xiao remain unchanged and hoped that they would comply with the regulations. Sun Wen is currently released on a bail of 1.5 million yuan, and Hu Xiao is released on a bail of 500,000 yuan.
