How is this not a bigger story?
At the trial for Linda Sun, a former top aide to New York Govs. Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo allegedly forged Hochul’s signature on invitations for dignitaries from Henan, a province in China.
Sun’s husband, Chris Hu, also faces charges.
At the time, Hochul served as New York lieutenant governor, and Sun worked as Cuomo’s director of Asian-American affairs.
From The New York Post:
Jurors in Brooklyn federal court were shown copies of letters purportedly sent by Hochul on March 26, 2018, inviting a six-member delegation from the province in central China to a meeting with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.But the letters bore clearly forged versions of Hochul’s signature — that featured “overly loopy” handwriting, her former chief of staff Jeff Lewis testified.“From my experience, this is not how she would sign her name,” Lewis told jurors last week.“The ‘K’ is different than it typically would be,” he said. “I don’t have another word for it, but there seems to be an overly loopy or bubbled nature to the handwriting.”The letters suggested that members of the delegation could expect discussions about “promoting greater investment, trade cooperation and tourism opportunities” with the Empire State, court records show.
Prosecutors accused Sun of forging “Hochul’s signature several times that year in an attempt to curry favor with Chinese officials.”
Officials charged Sun and Hu with fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.
“Her loyalty was for sale, and the Chinese government, which wanted to influence the New York government, was willing to pay her to do their bidding,” Assistant US Attorney Amanda Shami said during opening statements last week. “Linda Sun was for sale.”
The prosecution also showed the jurors the kickbacks Sun and Hu allegedly received for helping China:
Jurors on Monday saw evidence of the alleged spoils from the purportedly crooked schemes found at Sun’s parents home in Flushing, Queens, and at the $4 million Long Island mansion that the married couple shared at the time of their arrest last year.A special agent from the FBI’s New York field office testified that he found a pearl necklace at Sun’s parents’ home tucked into a jewelry box that also contained the business card of a Chinese government official.Jurors also got a glimpse of a Rolex watch that the feds recovered from the parents’ home, and a Patek Phillippe that the FBI found inside the $4 million Manhasset manse where Sun and Hu lived.
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