A federal judge sentenced a Southern California man to four years in prison on Monday after he pleaded guilty to working as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, including by supporting the successful election campaign of a Chinese American candidate.

一名联邦法官周一判处南加州一名男子四年监禁。此前，他承认自己充当中国政府的非法代理人，包括协助一名华裔候选人成功竞选公职。

At the direction of Chinese government officials, the man, a 65-year-old Chinese national named Mike Sun, covertly worked to promote Chinese interests in the Los Angeles area, according to his October plea deal with federal prosecutors. His work included running a news site disseminating Chinese government messaging to the local Chinese community, monitoring the movements of Taiwan’s president during her visit to the region and helping a politician he considered friendly to Chinese interests win a seat on a city council, prosecutors said.

根据这名现年65岁的中国籍男子孙耀宁在去年10月与联邦检察官达成的认罪协议中的内容，他曾在中国政府官员的指示下，为促进中国在洛杉矶地区的利益而秘密活动。检方表示，他的工作包括运营一家向当地华人社区传播中国政府立场的新闻网站，在台湾总统访问该地时监控其行踪，以及协助一名他认为对中国利益友好的政治人物赢得市议会席位。

The sentencing of Mr. Sun, who is also known as Yaoning Sun, comes after other revelations of the Chinese government enlisting agents in major American cities to advance its interests in state and local politics, such as countering the Taiwanese independence movement. Those efforts have focused heavily on areas with a sizable Chinese diaspora population, including the San Gabriel Valley in California, where Mr. Sun was based.

在孙耀宁获刑之前，多起中国政府在美国主要城市招募代理人的事件曝光，中国借此推动其在州和地方政治层面的利益，包括反制台湾独立的运动。这些活动的重点在拥有大量华裔人口的地区，包括孙耀宁生活的加州圣盖博谷。

“For years, Sun received and executed taskings from Chinese government officials, distorted our public discourse by disseminating Chinese propaganda and surveilled groups in the United States that China viewed as threatening its interests,” John A. Eisenberg, assistant U.S. attorney general for national security, said in a statement on Tuesday. “His conduct represents a brazen violation of our national sovereignty.”

美国司法部负责国家安全事务的助理部长约翰·艾森伯格周二在一份声明中表示：“多年来，孙接受并执行来自中国政府官员的指令，通过传播中国宣传歪曲我们的公共话语，并监视美国境内被中国视为威胁其利益的团体。他的行为是对我们国家主权的公然侵犯。”

Lawyers for Mr. Sun did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

孙耀宁的律师周二未回应置评请求。

Prosecutors said that Mr. Sun helped a candidate who aligned with interests of the Chinese government win local office, serving as a campaign adviser.

检方称，孙耀宁曾担任竞选顾问，协助一名符合中国政府利益的候选人赢得地方公职。

They did not name the politician, but during the years the prosecutors cited, Mr. Sun was the campaign treasurer for Eileen Wang, according to public records. In 2022, she won a City Council seat in Arcadia, a city in Los Angeles County, and now serves as the city’s mayor.

声明中没有透露这位政界人士的姓名，但根据公开记录，在检方援引的这些年里，孙耀宁是王爱琳的竞选财务主管。2022年，王在洛杉矶县的阿卡迪亚市赢得了市议会席位，现任该市市长。

Mr. Sun was also engaged to Ms. Wang at one point. Last year, Ms. Wang issued a statement saying that she had ended her romantic relationship with him before he was arrested and charged by federal authorities, The Los Angeles Times reported.

孙耀宁一度还与王爱琳订婚。据《洛杉矶时报》报道，去年王爱琳发表声明称，她在孙耀宁被联邦当局逮捕起诉之前就已经结束了与他的恋爱关系。

Ms. Wang has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and she has resisted calls for her resignation over her connections to Mr. Sun, according to local media reports. Ms. Wang did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

根据当地媒体的报道，王爱琳没有受到任何不当行为的指控，并且在因与孙耀宁的关系而面临辞职呼声时拒绝辞职。她周二未立即回应置评请求。

Another man, John Chen, who prosecutors said served as a go-between for Mr. Sun and the Chinese government, was sentenced in 2024 to 20 months in prison for acting as an illegal foreign agent. He had pleaded guilty to what prosecutors described as a plot to repress U.S.-based members of the religious group Falun Gong, which was formed in China and has fiercely opposed the Chinese Communist Party, and to bribe a tax official to help revoke the group’s tax-exempt status.

检方称，另一名男子陈军充当孙耀宁与中国政府的中间人。2024年，他因充当非法外国代理人被判处20个月监禁。他已认罪，检方称其参与策划打压总部设在美国的法轮功成员——该宗教团体起源于中国，一直强烈反对中共——并试图贿赂一名税务官员，以撤销该组织的免税资格。

At Mr. Chen’s behest, Mr. Sun penned a report in February 2023 detailing his efforts on behalf of the Chinese government, prosecutors said, including his work to get a “new political star” allied to its cause elected to a city council in 2022. The report also requested $80,000 from the Chinese government to support pro-China work, including organizing a demonstration at a Fourth of July parade in Washington, according to Mr. Sun’s plea agreement.

检方称，应陈军的要求，孙耀宁在2023年2月撰写了一份报告，详细说明了他代表中国政府所做的工作，包括他在2022年为了让一名与中国的立场一致的“政坛新星”当选市议员所做的工作。根据孙耀宁的认罪协议，这份报告还向中国政府申请8万美元资金，用于支持亲中活动，包括在华盛顿的国庆日游行中组织示威活动。

The plea agreement also outlined how in 2023 Mr. Sun provided an official at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles with real-time updates on the location of Tsai Ing-Wen, who was then the president of Taiwan, during her visit to the area. He also took photographs of people demonstrating in support of and against Ms. Tsai and sent them to the consular official, the plea agreement states.

认罪协议还指出，2023年，在台湾时任总统蔡英文访问洛杉矶地区期间，孙耀宁曾向中国驻洛杉矶领事馆的一名官员实时通报其行踪。他还拍摄了支持与反对蔡英文的示威者的照片，并将照片发送给这名领事官员。