She ducked the rap — for now.
Linda Sun’s trial ended in a hung jury Monday after the panel couldn’t decide whether to convict the former top aide to Govs. Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo of illegally serving as a Chinese agent.
A Brooklyn federal judge declared a mistrial in the corruption case against Sun, who was accused of pushing Beijing’s agenda at the highest levels of state government in exchange for payoffs that funded her lavish lifestyle.
The shocking Christmas week outcome followed a month-long trial that revealed what prosecutors called Sun’s brazen bids to advance China’s interests while working in the Executive Chamber.
The scheme allegedly netted Sun, 42, and her husband Chris Hu, 41, payments that funded luxury cars and designer handbags — plus perks like delectable salted ducks.
But lawyers for Sun countered that the embattled ex-Albany insider was actually just a dedicated public servant whose admittedly cozy relationship with consulate brass was a part of her job.
“Linda Sun is a proud American and lifetime New Yorker who was well-regarded by her peers,” defense attorney Kenneth Abell told jurors in his closing statement.
“Did she do everything perfectly? Absolutely not. But she did not commit any crimes.”
The 12-person jury had sent Judge Brian Cogan several notes last week saying it was hopelessly deadlocked on the various felony charges that Sun and Hu faced.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said after the mistrial was declared that it planned to bring the couple to trial for a second time.
Prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses and displayed a mountain of texts in which Sun touted her supposed sway over Hochul to Chinese consulate honchos — who showered her family with free ballet tickets and private-chef-prepared salted duck cooked in the style of her family’s hometown of Nanjing.
“She is much more obedient than the governor,” Sun wrote in a 2021 text after promising to convince Cuomo’s then-No. 2 to film a Lunar New Year video in which Hochul raved about the so-called “privilege” of working with the New York consulate office boss Huang Ping.
“The deputy governor listens to me more than the governor does,” Sun wrote in a text minutes later, adding a sheepish grin emoji — before volunteering to coach Hochul to deliver Ping’s desired “talking points.”
Sun, who worked under both Hochul and her predecessor Cuomo, dissuaded the governors from meeting with Taiwanese officials or even mentioning the island whose independence China does not recognize.
“I almost had a heart attack when we referred to Taiwan as a country,” Sun texted one official from China’s New York Consulate in October 2020. “Thankfully, I had the press team correct it immediately.”
Sun and her hubby cashed in on her access to the gubernatorial duo as Chinese government officials steered millions of dollars to Hu’s fledging lobster export business, the feds alleged.
The former state deputy also stunningly forged Hochul’s signature on gushing invites sent to dignitaries from the Henan province that allowed the officials to procure phony US visas, prosecutors charged.
But Sun’s defense lawyers noted that the feds didn’t call a witness to testify that Sun was the one that forged Hochul’s handwriting.
Sun did not testify.
“To say that Linda did what the government said she did for salted ducks is as absurd as it sounds,” her lawyer argued in closing statements, claiming that the “oft-discussed ducks weren’t bribes,” but “simple gestures of friendship and shared cultural understanding.”
Sun and Hu were separately accused of taking illegal bribes from a personal protective equipment, or PPE, company run by Sun’s cousin in exchange for recommending that the state funnel millions in contracts to the firm in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The allegedly illicit funds allowed the pair to afford a gaudy $3.6 million Long Island mansion, a $2 million ocean-view second home in Honolulu, a white Ferrari and Birkin handbags — despite Sun’s salary never reaching more than $145,000 and Hu reporting little income from his business.
Sun, who pleaded not guilty after her September 2024 arrest, rose through the ranks after arriving in Albany in 2012, serving as Cuomo’s director of Asian-American Affairs and later as a deputy chief of staff in Hochul’s Executive Chamber.
She was fired in 2023 from her state Labor Department gig after an internal probe found that she’d issued fake state “proclamations” to her father and uncle without permission.
“Is there something wrong with that?” a squirrely Sun, who according to a witness in the room was “sweaty and nervous,” asked investigators at the time, according to audio prosecutors played at her trial.
The bombshell proceedings also exposed Sun’s chummy exchanges with Chinese consulate officials — including about her desire for the hard-to-find Nanjing-style poultry.
“I want to eat salted duck,” Sun texted Ping during a July 28, 2021, exchange with the consul director Ping in which she also joked that she should get a “China-US Friendship Award.”
“My master is from Nanjing and has great skills. I’ll ask them to make them now,” Ping replied.
After sending Sun six ducks, Ping texted her two days later asking whether she had tried them yet.
“Well, I eat it as a midnight snack,” Sun responded, with a licking-lips emoji. “Thank you Ambassador Huang. The duck is especially delicious.”
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