Southern California mayor will plead guilty to acting as agent for Chinese government

Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, was charged in April with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government

A Southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday.

Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, was charged in April with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favourable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law.

The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis.

City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a news release that no city finances or staff were involved.

“We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022,” he said.

Federal officials said she has agreed to plead guilty to the charge, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.