NEW YORK CITY—A federal judge in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on Dec. 22 declared a mistrial over a Chinese foreign agent case against Linda Sun, former aide to New York governors, after jurors failed to reach a verdict.

Sun faces 19 charges, including acting as a Chinese agent, bribery in connection with state contracts, money laundering, and visa fraud. Her husband, Chris Hu, was charged with money laundering, misuse of someone else’s identification, bank fraud, and tax evasion.

Judge Brian Cogan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, hours earlier, had expressed doubt that the jurors would be able to resolve their disagreements on the case, saying that he would be “surprised if they come to an agreement.”

On Dec. 18, the jurors told Cogan in a note that they could not come to a unanimous decision because of “fundamental differences on the evidence and interpretation of the law.” They said the jurors’ judgments on all counts were unlikely to change.

In response to prosecutors’ motion for a partial verdict, Cogan called the jury in and asked whether it had a consensus on any count.

The jurors said they were stuck on all 19.

Cogan said he does not think that jurors felt rushed to reach a verdict simply because the case has dragged on, as jurors are “not surrendering their convictions.”

In the month-long trial, prosecutors presented evidence of Sun using her position to influence the governor’s office. She worked to steer the governor’s office toward aligning with the Chinese regime’s priorities, according to text messages released by the prosecutors.

The prosecutors on Dec. 22 had urged the court against declaring a mistrial, saying that the complexity of the trial does not support such an action at this point and that the deliberations so far have been relatively short, given that replacing jurors has caused the jury to restart three times.

Sun worked for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She was part of a task force looking for vendors of ventilators, masks, and gloves at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. During that time, prosecutors alleged, Sun promoted her husband and his business partners for contracts, taking advantage of her role and receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks from vendors.

Sun and Hu allegedly laundered the kickbacks received, routing them through shell companies, dummy accounts, and close friends.

In text messages, Sun also showed a close connection with Chinese officials. She requested Chinese delicacies from the then-New York state Chinese consul general and assisted the Chinese Consulate with getting a recorded Chinese New Year greeting from Hochul in 2021.

Sun also bragged about her influence over New York state officials and said she yearned to do more for her “native country,” according to the messages.

Sun’s attorney Jarrod Schaeffer said the inability of jurors to “reach a unanimous verdict on all counts despite days of conscientious deliberation underscores how questionable and flawed” the charges were.

“Throughout this trial, Linda Sun has steadfastly maintained her innocence—and that does not change now,” he told The Epoch Times. He said he hopes that “the government recognizes what this mistrial indicates” and drops retrial efforts.

The court will hold a status conference on Jan. 26. Prosecutors said they will retry the case as soon as possible.