FBI raids Manhasset home of Linda Sun, ex-aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to officials, real estate records

The FBI has searched the Manhasset home of a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul during an early morning Tuesday raid, according to officials and real estate records.

The $3.5 million home of Linda Sun, the former deputy chief of staff to Hochul, was the subject of Tuesday's search warrant. The house, a five-bedroom mansion on Saxony Court, is in a gated community.

Special Agent Jason Pack, of the FBI New York Press Office, confirmed the agency "conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity in Manhasset" on Tuesday.

"Beyond that, I am required by DOJ policy to decline further comment," Pack said in an email Wednesday.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

It is unclear what led federal authorities to search the home. No arrests were made, a law enforcement source said.

Neither Sun nor her husband, Chris Hu, both of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing, could immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

A Newsday videographer on the scene Tuesday captured footage of agents from the FBI evidence response team entering the home. It’s unclear what evidence, if any, was recovered.

All of the lights were on inside the home at the time of the search. Two cars were parked in the driveway.

Sun and Hu bought the home in 2021 for $3.55 million, according to real estate records. In 2022, the Village of North Hills' board of appeals denied a request by Hu for a variance to locate a swimming pool and barbecue area in the backyard closer to the property line than is permitted, according to a village record.

A pair of businesses have been incorporated under the Manhasset address, according to state records, including Leivine Wine and Spirits, a liquor store Hu operates in Flushing.

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

In 2021, another Hu company, Foodie Fisherman, received a pair of Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling nearly $42,000, according to U.S. Small Business Administration data that describes the company as having a single employee.

Sun worked in the state Assembly and joined the administration of then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2012 as a liaison to minority communities, said a source with knowledge of the issue.

She later served at Empire State Development, the privately run state economic development arm.

She returned to the state payroll as a deputy diversity officer, then worked at the Department of Financial Services.

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

But she was terminated from the Labor Department in March 2023 in relation to a misconduct complaint that was later referred to a law enforcement agency, the source said.

Hochul's office declined to comment.