A former Southern California mayor pleaded guilty on Friday to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.

Eileen Wang, who stepped down as the mayor of Arcadia earlier this month, was charged in April with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

She pleaded guilty to doing the bidding of Chinese officials by sharing articles favourable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law.

The 56-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. Federal prosecutors say Wang’s illegal conduct occurred from late 2020 to 2022. Arcadia city officials and Wang’s lawyers have said it ended before she took office.

Arcadia is located about 21km (13 miles) northeast of Los Angeles. The city of about 53,000 is majority Asian and has a high concentration of Chinese residents.

Wang appeared in downtown LA federal court to enter her plea. The hearing included procedural questions from US District Judge Wesley Hsu to ensure Wang understood her rights and the consequences of her guilty plea. A Chinese interpreter was present but Wang said she did not need their help.