FBI arrests former Gov. Hochul aide Linda Sun and husband Chris Hu of Manhasset, federal authorities say

The FBI arrested a former aide to Governor Kathy Hochul and her husband, both Manhasset residents, on federal charges Tuesday morning, federal prosecutors confirmed.

Linda Sun, Hochul's former deputy chief of staff, and her husband, Chris Hu, are scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon. The couple's $3.5 million home was the subject of a search warrant in July.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn confirmed the arrests but could not provide details on the charges contained in the still-sealed indictment.

At the time of the raid on the home – a five-bedroom mansion in a gated community on Saxony Court – an FBI spokesman confirmed that the agency was “conducting a court-authorized law enforcement action in Manhasset” but declined further comment.

Sun and Hu's lawyers were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

Sun and Hu bought the house for $3.55 million in 2021, according to property records. In 2022, the North Hills Township Board of Appeals denied Hu's request for a special permit to place a swimming pool and barbecue area in the backyard closer to the property line than is allowed, according to a township filing.

According to state records, two businesses were registered at the Manhasset address, including Leivine Wine and Spirits, a liquor store that Hu operates in Flushing, Queens.

Hu also registered several businesses at a previous address the couple shared in Forest Hills, Queens, according to property records. One of those businesses, Medical Supplies USA, was founded in April 2020. U.S. customs records available online show that the company received shipments of face masks and other supplies from China in 2020.

In 2021, another of Hu's businesses, Foodie Fisherman, received two Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling nearly $42,000, according to U.S. Small Business Administration data, which shows the company employs just a single employee.

Sun served in the state Assembly and joined then-Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's administration in 2012 as a liaison to minority communities, a source familiar with the matter said.

She later worked at Empire State Development, the privately run government economic development agency.

She returned to the public services sector as Deputy Diversity Officer and then worked in the Department of Financial Services.

When Hochul succeeded Cuomo as governor in 2021, Sun was hired as deputy chief of staff, but left the office in September 2022 and joined the state Department of Labor.

However, she was fired by the Labor Department in March 2023 in connection with a misconduct complaint that was later referred to a law enforcement agency, the source said.

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's chief crime reporter. She started working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.