Matthew Sanderson Comments on Upcoming Chinese Foreign Agent Trial in POLITICO

The former aide to two New York governors charged with acting as an unregistered Chinese agent heads to federal court in Brooklyn Wednesday for the first big FARA trial of the second Trump administration.

Linda Sun, who served as a deputy chief of staff to current Gov. Kathy Hochul and worked in Andrew Cuomo’s administration before that, was indicted last year for allegedly using her job to benefit the Chinese government in exchange for millions in payments to her husband’s business.

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Matt Sanderson of Caplin & Drysdale told POLITICO that while the defense is likely to “focus more on the mundane nature of the actions” that Sun took, “I think the fundamental question they have to answer is, why should there not be some implication read out from both the receipt of all of these benefits and the actions that were taken by her in her official capacity? Why aren’t those connected?”

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He, like others, drew parallels to the successful case against former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). “It helps ground the allegations in sort of a very concrete and understandable way for a jury,” Rosenstein argued, while Sanderson noted that the fact pattern can help illustrate that “it wasn’t just a failure to file some forms.”

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