Months after a low-level aide in the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo returned from a visit to China in 2019, she got a curious inquiry from federal investigators.

2019年，纽约州州长安德鲁·库莫的一名低级助手去了一趟中国，回国几个月后，她接到联邦调查人员的一个不寻常的问询。

The F.B.I. wanted to know about the nature of the trip that the aide, Linda Sun, had taken.

联邦调查局想了解这位名叫孙雯的助理的旅行性质。

The interaction in 2020 was one of the first known instances of governmental interest in Ms. Sun’s activities, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday. But it was not the last.

周二公布的一份联邦起诉书显示，2020年的那次互动是政府最早开始注意孙雯的活动的一个事例。但不是最后一次。

In February 2023, Ms. Sun was interviewed by the state’s Office of the Inspector General about her unauthorized procurement of official proclamations from the governor’s office, according to the indictment.

起诉书称，2023年2月，该州监察长办公室就她未经授权促成州长办公室发布官方公告一事约谈了孙雯。

And when Ms. Sun was fired by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration weeks later, state officials’ suspicions surrounding Ms. Sun were “reported immediately to law enforcement,” the governor said on Wednesday.

几周后，州长凯西·霍格尔的政府解雇了孙雯，州长于周三表示，州政府官员对孙雯的怀疑“被第一时间报告给执法部门”。

Before her dismissal, even as questions were repeatedly raised, Ms. Sun continued to use her positions in state government to benefit the People’s Republic of China and its Communist Party in exchange for millions of dollars in benefits, according to prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

据布鲁克林联邦检察官办公室的检察官说，在她被解职之前，尽管一再出现质疑，孙雯仍继续利用她在州政府的职位为中华人民共和国及中共谋取利益，以换取数百万美元的利益。

In a 65-page indictment, prosecutors laid out a yearslong scheme in which Ms. Sun blocked Taiwanese officials from having access to the governor’s office, eliminated references to Taiwan and Uyghurs from state communications and quashed meetings with Taiwanese officials, all in an effort to bolster Chinese government positions.

在一份65页的起诉书中，检方列出了长达数年的密谋：孙雯阻止了台湾官员与州长办公室的往来，在州政府通讯中删除提及台湾和维吾尔人的内容，并取消与台湾官员的会面，所有这些都是为了巩固中国政府的地位。

In return, Ms. Sun, 40, and her husband, Chris Hu, 41, received payoffs that included millions of dollars in transactions with China-based businesses tied to Mr. Hu, prosecutors said. They also included travel benefits, tickets to events, a series of Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a Chinese consulate official’s private chef and employment for Ms. Sun’s cousin in China, officials said.

检方说，作为回报，40岁的孙雯和她41岁的丈夫胡骁通过与胡骁有关联的中国企业获得了数百万美元的报酬。官员们说，她收受的好处还包括旅行费用、活动门票、一名中国领事馆官员的私人厨师制作的一系列南京风味盐水鸭，以及为孙雯在中国的表亲提供的就业机会。

Ms. Sun, 40, was charged with 10 criminal counts that included visa fraud, money laundering and other crimes. Her husband was charged with money laundering. Both pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday, were released on bond and were required to surrender their passports.

40岁的孙雯被控10项刑事罪名，包括签证欺诈、洗钱和其他罪行。她的丈夫被控洗钱。周二，两人都在联邦法院否认有罪，得到保释，并被要求交出护照。

In interviews, officials and people who worked with her at varying stages of her career offered differing impressions of Ms. Sun. Some saw her as a quiet but knowledgeable employee who made a name for herself as a political operator in New York City’s Asian American community and in the Democratic circles of power in Queens, where she appeared to have gotten her start.

在采访中，曾在孙雯职业生涯的不同阶段与她共事过的官员和人士对她的印象各不相同。有些人认为她是一个沉默寡言但知识渊博的雇员；在纽约市亚裔美国人社区，以及在她起步的皇后区民主党权力圈子里，她的政治运作小有名气。

But to the Chinese government, someone of Ms. Sun’s stature would have been seen as a logical and desirable target to win over, according to James Lewis, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who studies Chinese espionage abroad.

但战略与国际研究中心研究中国海外间谍活动的研究员詹姆斯·刘易斯说，对中国政府而言，像孙雯这样的人会被视为合乎逻辑、值得争取的目标。

Ms. Sun’s alleged behavior fit into a common tactic of attempting to buy influence in countries including Canada, Australia or the United States.

孙雯被指控的行为符合中国试图在加拿大、澳大利亚或美国等国收买影响力的常见策略。

The charges are the latest in the effort by the Justice Department to stop efforts by the Chinese government to wield its influence secretly across the United States. In another recent case, Shujun Wang, 75, a Queens man who billed himself as a democracy activist and scholar, was convicted last month in Brooklyn federal court of acting as a spy for the Chinese Communist Party.

这些指控是司法部为阻止中国政府在美国各地秘密施加影响而采取的最新行动。在最近的另一起案件中，75岁的皇后区男子、自称民主活动人士和学者的王书军上月在布鲁克林联邦法院被判为中共充当间谍罪名成立。

Mr. Lewis said that the expense of these operations would have been a pittance for China. Ms. Sun may have been a midlevel aide, but to diplomats reporting back to Beijing, he said, “it’s a big coup to recruit the deputy chief of staff.”

刘易斯说，这些行动的费用对中国来说微不足道。他说，孙雯可能只是一名中层助理，但对于向北京汇报工作的外交官来说，“能招募到副幕僚长是一个重大突破。”

“She was a good get,” Mr. Lewis said. “If the C.I.A. had recruited the Chinese equivalent, officials in Beijing would have flipped out, and we would have seen it as a success.”

“她是个不错的成果，”刘易斯说。“如果中情局能招募到中国的同级官员，北京的官员会勃然大怒，而我们会认为是一次成功。”

Ms. Sun entered the political world when she worked as Representative Grace Meng’s chief of staff when Ms. Meng represented a Queens district in the State Assembly. She became known for fiercely defending her boss in the district, and later worked on Ms. Meng’s successful campaign for Congress in 2012, which made her the state’s first Asian American elected to the House.

初入政界时，孙雯曾担任众议员孟昭文的办公室主任，当时孟昭文在州议会代表皇后区的一个选区。孙雯因在该地区激烈地为自己的上司辩护而闻名，后来又参与了孟昭文在2012年成功竞选国会议员的工作，孟昭文由此成为该州第一位当选众议员的亚裔美国人。

Following her stint with Ms. Meng, she went to work for Mr. Cuomo’s administration — at one point holding a deputy chief position in the diversity office and becoming a co-director of the governor’s Asian American Advisory Council, according to prosecutors. After taking office, Ms. Hochul promoted Ms. Sun to deputy chief of staff.

检察官称，在与孟昭文共事之后，孙雯为库莫政府工作，一度担任多元办公室副主任，并成为州长亚裔美国人咨询委员会的联席主任。霍格尔上任后将孙雯提升为副幕僚长。

Ms. Sun’s job of liaison to the Asian American community was demanding, requiring her to attend community meetings late into the night, and Ms. Sun was tireless, according to her former colleagues.

据前同事说，孙雯负责的亚裔美国人社区联络工作是份苦差事，她需要参加社区会议到深夜，前同事说，孙雯仿佛不知疲倦。

But some officials who had more frequent interactions with Ms. Sun said they began to notice a change as her role in state government grew.

但一些与孙雯交往更频繁的官员说，随着她在州政府中的角色越来越重要，他们开始注意到她的变化。

One state lawmaker and one former state lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that during the time Ms. Sun served under Mr. Cuomo, the governor’s office appeared notably sensitive to issues related to Taiwan. The governor’s office expressed resistance and pushed back against symbolic pro-Taiwan resolutions that were regularly introduced in the State Legislature, according to one of the lawmakers.

一名不愿透露姓名的州议员和一名前州议员表示，孙雯在库莫手下任职期间，州长办公室似乎对涉台湾问题格外敏感。据其中一名议员说，州长办公室对州立法机构定期提出的象征性亲台决议表示抵制和反对。

The lawmaker also said Ms. Sun and her husband were a regular presence at events and fund-raisers organized by mainland Chinese groups in Queens and Albany, and led a more extravagant lifestyle than most in her position.

这位议员还说，孙雯和她的丈夫经常出席中国大陆团体在皇后区和奥尔巴尼组织的活动和筹款活动，他们的生活方式比她这一职位的大多数人都要奢侈。

Her trip in 2019 to China included a reception in Beijing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. Prosecutors now say the trip was orchestrated by a Chinese government official, who also paid for Ms. Sun’s hotel accommodations.

她2019年的中国之行包括在北京参加庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年的招待会。如今，检察官说，这次旅行由一名中国政府官员精心安排，还支付了孙雯的酒店住宿费用。

And as New York became the epicenter of the emerging Covid crisis, Ms. Sun was one of the few members of the governor’s senior staff with Mandarin language skills and relationships across the Pacific. She became part of an ad hoc team dedicated to securing PPE and other supplies from China.

当纽约成为新出现的新冠危机的中心时，孙雯是州长高级职员中为数不多的会说普通话、拥有跨太平洋关系的成员之一。她成了一个专门负责从中国获取个人防护装备和其他物资的特别小组的成员。

In January 2020, Ms. Sun wrote to a Chinese government official to “provide an update on PPE donated by members of a U.S.-based Chinese overseas association to Wuhan,” according to the indictment, and told the official that a company that she said her husband owned would “provide free shipping services for shipments to epidemic areas and offered to provide free shipping services for other Chinese overseas associations.” The company actually belonged to a friend of Ms. Sun and her husband.

根据起诉书，2020年1月，孙雯写信给一名中国政府官员，“提供美国华人海外协会成员向武汉捐赠个人防护装备的最新情况，”并告诉该官员，她声称由她丈夫拥有的一家公司将“为运往疫区的货物提供免费运输服务，并提出为其他华人海外协会提供免费运输服务”。这家公司实际上属于孙雯和她丈夫的一个朋友。

In reference to the same donation, a Chinese government official sent Ms. Sun a link to a media statement from the government, which referenced the company, and wrote “please say thank you to your husband and his company.”

同样是关于这笔捐赠，一名中国政府官员给孙雯发了一份政府媒体声明的链接，其中提到了这家公司，并写道：“请向您的先生和他的公司表示感谢。”

Still, her influence was limited. She was never in charge of lucrative state contracts or procurement decisions.

不过，她的影响力是有限的。她从未负责过利润丰厚的国家合同或采购决策。

Beyond her official duties, some who spoke to The New York Times were puzzled by aspects of Ms. Sun’s personal life.

除了公务之外，一些接受《纽约时报》采访的人对她个人生活的方方面面感到困惑。

For years she had lived in Linden Towers, a middle-class co-op in Flushing, Queens. Several people who worked with her said they were left with the impression her husband was unemployed, and Ms. Sun frequently told superiors she needed a raise, according to two people familiar with the requests who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

多年来，她一直住在皇后区法拉盛的中产阶级共管公寓林登大厦。据两名知情人士透露，几名与她一起工作的人说，他们得到的印象是，她的丈夫失业了，孙雯经常对上级说她需要加薪。由于讨论人事问题，两名知情人士要求匿名。

At the same time, she often arrived at a state office building in Midtown Manhattan, where she had an office just below the governor’s, dressed in designer outfits.

与此同时，她经常穿着名牌服装来到位于曼哈顿中城的州办公大楼，她的办公室就在州长办公室的楼下。

“I do remember her being a little more polished than other government employees,” said Brandon Hicks, who worked closely with Ms. Sun when he was Mr. Cuomo’s director of African American affairs. “The way she dressed. The bags she carried. She seemed like she must have a husband with a good outside job.”

“我确实记得，她比其他政府雇员光鲜一点，”布兰登·希克斯说。他在担任库莫的非裔美国人事务主管时，曾与孙雯密切合作。“她的穿着。她背的包。她丈夫看起来一定有个好工作。”

After Mr. Cuomo’s resignation, there was a scramble to fill senior staff positions, and Ms. Sun was brought in by Jeff Lewis, who was serving as Ms. Hochul’s chief of staff. Several officials said that Ms. Sun’s role was mostly confined to facilitating events, and that senior administration officials soon decided that she should be reassigned.

库莫辞职后，各方争相填补高级幕僚职位的空缺，孙雯被当时担任霍格尔幕僚长的杰夫·刘易斯请来担任副幕僚长。几名官员说，孙雯的角色主要限于筹办活动，高级政府官员很快就决定将她调任。

She moved to the Department of Labor and left state government in 2023.

她在2023年调到劳工部，离开了州政府。

Mr. Lewis did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

刘易斯没有回应记者的多次置评请求。

At a news conference on Wednesday, Ms. Hochul expressed her anger over the charges. “I’m outraged by this behavior,” she said. “She used that position to deteriorate the trust as outlined in the indictment.”

在周三的新闻发布会上，霍格尔表达了对这些指控的愤怒。“我对这种行为感到愤怒，”她说。“正如起诉书中所说，她利用这个职位破坏了信任。”

The governor disclosed that she had asked a State Department official to expel China’s consul general during a phone call set up by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

州长透露，自己曾在国务卿布林肯安排的电话会议中要求国务院驱逐中国总领事。

She said she was “informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission.” Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, said at a news briefing on Wednesday that the consul general had not been expelled but had left the consulate because his rotation had ended.

她说，她“被告知该总领事已不在纽约使团工作”。国务院发言人马修·米勒在周三的新闻发布会上表示，该总领事并非被驱逐出境，而是因为轮值结束而离开领事馆。