Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former deputy chief of staff to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul with acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Linda Sun, 41, and her husband, Chris Hu, 40, were arrested on the morning of Sept. 3 at their home on Long Island.

The FBI searched the address in July but offered no further details at the time. Sun was also charged with visa fraud, alien smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Hu was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud, and misuse of means of identification.

According to an unsealed indictment, Sun, a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen, received millions of dollars for her activities carried out at the behest of People’s Republic of China and CCP officials. She neither registered her role as a Chinese agent with the attorney general nor declared the benefits she had received as required for New York State government employees. Read the full story here›

The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and five other living and deceased senior Hamas officials on Sept. 3 for alleged terrorist activity from the 1990s to the present day.

The seven-count complaint, unsealed in a federal court in New York City on Tuesday, charges Sinwar alongside Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammad Al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal, and Ali Baraka.

A DOJ press statement identified Sinwar as the current leader of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. It also names him as one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas political structure. U.S. officials believe he remains confined within the embattled Gaza Strip. Read the full story here›

Former President Donald Trump has lost a bid to move his criminal case in New York to federal court.  

Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued an opinion on Sept. 3 that said the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity did not alter his previous conclusion that payments to adult actress Stephanie Clifford “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.” He also said his court in the Southern District of New York did not have jurisdiction to hear arguments about the propriety of the lower court proceeding, which resulted in a guilty verdict for the former president.

According to Hellerstein, “the proper recourse for parties seeking to remedy alleged errors made during a state trial is to pursue a state appeal or, at the highest level, to seek review from the Supreme Court of the United States.” Read the full story here›

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