According to the filing, Wang received and carried out directives from Chinese government officials to post pro-China content on the website, including articles disputing reports of human rights abuses committed against ethnic Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.
Responding to a complimentary text message from a Chinese government official acknowledging her work, Wang replied, “Thank you leader”, her plea agreement said.
According to the document, Wang had worked closely with an associate named Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who she had once publicly described as her fiance and was briefly listed as a campaign finance adviser.
Sun, 65, was sentenced in February to four years in prison after his guilty plea in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
Among Wang’s contacts with the Beijing government, prosecutors alleged, was a Chinese Communist Party figure named John Chen, who according to court documents was a high-level member of China’s intelligence apparatus who met personally with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Chen was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in prison for a similar guilty plea.
A statement released by Wang’s attorneys said she “apologises and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life”.
City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a separate statement that the federal charge stems from “conduct that ceased after Ms Wang was sworn into office in December 2022”. It said “no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved”.
