After the Justice Department brought foreign-agent charges last year against Linda Sun, a former high-level aide to New York governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, observers wondered how she and her husband had accumulated a modest fortune, with federal prosecutors detailing a lavish lifestyle that included a $4 million Long Island mansion, a $2 million condo in Hawaii, and a Ferrari.

In a superseding indictment today, the Justice Department built on its previous allegations that Sun acted as an unregistered agent for China’s government and the Chinese Communist Party and made new allegations that go part of the way toward answering that question.

Prosecutors allege that she directed government contracts worth approximately $35 million to Chinese companies controlled by her husband and second cousin, in exchange for large kickbacks.

In addition to foreign-agent charges, Sun was also facing allegations of visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering, with her husband, Chris Hu, also indicted on money-laundering charges.

They both pleaded not guilty and are expected to face trial in Brooklyn later this year.

Now they’re facing new allegations related to the kickback scheme. Prosecutors alleged today that Sun and Hu built a tidy nest egg through corrupt means.

The indictment filed last year said a relative told Sun that people were going to wonder how she was able to afford such an expensive house. She replied: “mortgage.”

“As alleged, Linda Sun not only acted as unregistered agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China, but also enriched herself to the tune of millions of dollars when New York State was at its most vulnerable at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Joseph Nocella, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said today.

He said that Sun “abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits” when masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment were hard to find.

Jarrod Schaeffer, a lawyer representing Sun, fired back: “Scrambling to develop new theories and shoving new charges into an indictment as trial looms is both unfortunate and telling, but it is also unsurprising given how this case has proceeded and the government’s recent efforts to further delay trial in this case.”

“The newest allegations continue the government’s trend of making and publicizing feverish accusations unmoored from the facts and evidence that we expect will actually come out at trial. Ms. Sun vehemently denies these latest allegations and intends to vigorously contest them in court,” said Scaheffer, a partner at Abell Eskew Landau LLP.

Hu’s attorneys also contested the government’s allegations, in a statement Thursday evening. “It’s been apparent over the last few months that the government has been scrambling to try to come up with some new charging theory as the trial was fast approaching. The superseding indictment comes as no surprise, and we remain confident in Chris,” said Nicole Boeckmann and Seth DuCharme, who are partners at Bracewell LLP.

Sun played a key role in coordinating New York State’s efforts to purchase PPE from China at the outset of the pandemic, given her ties to the Chinese government, according to court filings.

When the pandemic began in early 2020, she was Cuomo’s deputy chief diversity officer. In July 2020, she was appointed superintendent for intergovernmental affairs and chief diversity officer of the New York State Department of Financial Services.

According to the new indictment, Sun referred many PPE vendors to the New York State government upon the recommendation of the Chinese government. She also referred the companies operated by Hu and her second cousin without disclosing her personal relationship to those vendors, the government said.

Prosecutors said the contracts between New York State and those companies were “worth millions of dollars apiece” and that the couple received kickback payments.

A table inside the indictment displaying the contracts between New York and the companies connected to Sun revealed that they were worth just under $35 million.

Hu’s personal records indicated that the couple’s profit from the arrangement amounted to just over $8 million, the government alleged.

Sun took steps to hide her connection to the second cousin’s company, editing a document to say that Jiangsu’s Department of Commerce had recommended that vendor, instead of a different company that sold ventilators.

Federal investigators also found a spreadsheet on the couple’s computer indicating that the second cousin paid them about $2.3 million throughout 2020 and 2021.

The government alleged that Hu declined to report that income and that he underreported income he received at his own business.

During a status conference earlier this month, Judge Brian Cogan set jury selection in the case to begin on November 3.