Dean Fioresi is a web producer for CBS Los Angeles. He covers breaking news throughout Southern California. When he's not writing about local events, he enjoys focusing on sports and entertainment.
A Southern California man who was "acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China" while working as a political advisor for a San Bernardino County politician was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Yaoning "Mike" Sun, of Chino Hills, pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government from at least 2022 to January 2024, when he "knowingly acted within the United States as an agent" of China, without notifying the attorney general, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Sun, 55, worked with a person referred to as "Individual 1" from 2020 through 2023 to "operate a purported news website for the local Chinese American community," while receiving and executing directives from the PRC government to "post pro-PRC content," the release said. He also worked as a campaign advisor for Individual 1, who was running for a city council seat in an undisclosed city. The person was elected to the city council in November 2022.
Federal prosecutors said that Sun attended a meeting with several others, including Individual 1, in December 2022, who they described as a "team dedicated" to PRC interests. Months later, in February 2023, Sun is said to have drafted a report for PRC officials to "solicit additional money and taskings" from the PRC government.
"Sun's report summarized his personal experience, including his past service in the People's Liberation Army, China's military," the release said. "In the report, Sun stated that he had worked in the United States to lead 'delegations of U.S. dignitaries and cultural workers to China,' 'persist in resisting any hostile forces that undermine the friendship of U.S.-China relations, and Chinese secessionist forces,' and 'most of all, during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, I orchestrated and organized my team to win the election for city council' for Individual 1, whom he called a 'new political star.'"
The release further notes that Sun's report described multiple issues concerning "anti-China forces" overseas, including opposition to independence for Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. He also noted issues with a spiritual movement called Falun Gong, which is banned in China. He proposed "using part of our Los Angeles organization's professional core team" to counteract those forces, court documents said. He requested $80,000 from the PRC government to fund a demonstration at a Fourth of July parade in Washington, D.C., which would be pro-People's Republic of China.
He also communicated with officials at the consulate general for China in Los Angeles, "regarding activities in Southern California related to Taiwan" throughout 2023 and 2024, the release said, including in April 2023, when he sent real-time updates on President Tsai Ing-Wen's visit to Southern California to a PRC consular official. He also asked for approval to publish an article about President Tsai's visit on the pro-PRC website. Prosecutors said that he also took pictures of people protesting in support of and in opposition to President Tsai and sent them to the consular officials.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors argued that while working covertly in the U.S., Sun's primary co-conspirator was a man named John Chen, also known as "Chen Jun."
"Chen was a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus, who regularly attended elite [Chinese Communist Party] functions, including military parades," the release said, also stating that he met personally with PRC President Xi Jinping. "Per his own report, and other communications between Chen and PRC officials, [Sun] served as Chen's right-hand man in the United States for decades."
Chen was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison in November 2024 after he pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the PRC and conspiracy to bribe a public official in New York.
"When Americans vote for elected officials, they expect them to represent the interests of their constituents - not those of a foreign adversary like the Chinese government," said a statement from Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. "By exploiting his position as a campaign advisor, Yaoning Sun attempted to undermine our political processes and democratic institutions for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party. Today's sentencing underscores the unwavering commitment of the FBI and our partners to defending the homeland and holding accountable anyone who tries to subvert the will of American voters at the behest of our adversaries."