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New FDNY chief’s ties to China emerge amid federal probe into foreign influence on New York officials

The New York Fire Department’s new chief’s ties to China are coming to light against the backdrop of a federal investigation into foreign influence on the city’s officials.

FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker was previously head of a private security firm where one of the clients was a billionaire who once adm🐼itted to feds he worked for Chinese intelligence, according to reports.

While in that role, Tucker also approved an email putting forward ex-golf club hospitality worker Lin Gui’an for a top position in the New York Police Department, which he eventually got. Lin’s links to the Chinese Communist Party were exposed by The Post last week.

Before joining the FDNY, Tucker was boཧss of T&M USA LLC, a Manhattan-based global private investigations firm that once counted controversial Chinese billionaire Miles Guo as aไ client.

Robert Tucker after one of his first public engagements since becoming fire chief on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Staten Island. Michael Nagle

Guo — alꦍso known as Guo Wengui and Miles Kwok, among other names — was convicted in a billion-dollar fraud scheme in Manhattan federal court in July. He faces decades in jail when sentenced in November.

Guo, a pal of former President D🦹onald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, admitted to having worked for China’s Ministry of State Security, but also claimed to be a victim of CCPꩵ harassment,

His lavish apar🌞tment at the Sherry Netherland by Central Park was wired for sound to record his visitors, accordꦛing to sources.

A mysterious fire broke out while FBI agents searched that apartment last year. Authorities are investigating whether the blaze was sparked remotely, accor🍌ding to reports.

T&M began working for Guo in 2017, according to Chinese-language media and court documents. “Guo had worked with T&M Security to install cameras in his apartment, but they [T&M] no longer work for him,” according to

Robert Tucker poses with convicted Chinese fraudster Guo Wengui along with Duncan Levin, vice president of T&M USA, the company that Tucker headed before being appointed to run the FDNY. @MischaEDM/ X via aboluowang
T&M, the company that Robert Tucker ran before joining the FDNY, set up security systems for Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. @MischaEDM/ X via aboluowang

Furthermore, Tucker, who worked for T&M from 1999, and the company’s vice president, former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin, in photographs taken inside his sprawling Fifth Avenue apartment.

The three men appear to be having a great time in the pictures, with one showing Levin and🐼 Tucker playfully pecking Guo on the cheek and another showing Guo resting his arms on their shoulders as they crouch down on ei൩ther side of him.

An email Tucker was copied on sent by a personal assistant recommended Lin Gui’an for a role in the NYPD, according to sources. Michael Nagle

A spokesperson for T&M told The Post the company’s policy does not allow them to “disclose the identity of any of our clients nor reveal information regarding any services related to client matters.”

Meanwhile, in March 2022, an email including Lin’s resume was sent by a personal assistant at T&M, with Tucker copied, to then-NYPD Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban, sources told The Post.

Lin, 49, had been working at an elite golf course in Scarsdale — where Tucker owns a sprawling, $7 million maไnsion — but had gone on to become a White Plains auxiliary cop and administrator at that time.

Speaking about the email, Meryl Lutsky, a lawyer for T&M, said: “To put this in context, for approximately the past ten years, Robert Tucker has served as a Board Member on both the New York City Police Foundation as well as the FDNY Foundation, among others.

“Additionally, Mr. Tucker was appointed to the Public Safety & Justice Committee of Mayor [Eric] Adams’ transition team in 2021. In those various capacities, Mr. Tucker has received and forwarded many resumes to the appropriate NYC agencies, including the resume you referenced.”

The FDNY denied the commissioner had vouched for Lin, with a spokesperson saying: “Commissioner Tucker was not involved in any way and made no such recommendation.”

Caban rose to become NYPD commissioner last summer, but resigned last Thursday following an FBI raid on his home two weeks ago.

Lin was hired in 2022 to fulfill a non-uniform position and quickly rose through the ranks, despite his limited💝 police experience.

Former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban (second from left) poses with Gui’An Lin at a police promotion ceremony. Lin, who has limited police experience, rose to be Caban’s “right hand,” sources said. NYPD

Within a year, he became assistant general director of the Police Commissioner Liaison Unit, where he was described as Caban’s “right hand.”

Lin, who was born in Fujian province in China, was previously vice chairman of New York City-based Fujian Changle Nanxiang Ben✱evolent Association for 12 years beginning in 1994, a year after he arrived in the US, according to Chinese-lan🍎guage media reports.

He was photographed attending their meetings as recently aꦑs 2023.

The association is linked to a web of CCP-controlled community groups and school associations known as United Front, which spread Chinese propaganda in the US, overseen by the United Front Department, which is funded and controlled by China’s central government.

Robert Tucker is sworn in as FDNY commissioner in August. Matthew McDermott

Lin’s rise is all the more remarkable as most of his experience is🌠 in 🐓hospitality, working between 2004 and 2018 at Fenway Golf Club — a place where Tucker, 54, has sponsored charitable events.

According to a source, Lin started as “a low-rung guy” and worked his way up to assistant manager of the golf club’s dining room.

Lin claims to have arrived in the US from China “on a ship carrying illegal immigrants” and was forced to pay $40,000 to the Chinese mafia, according to a talk he gave in Westchester that was reported by a local newsletter in February 2014.

Ex-NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban stepped down on Sept. 12 amid a federal probe into foreign influence on city staff and a raid on his home James Keivom

He said he worked as a busboy in his uncle’s New Rochelle restaurant before getting a job at Fenway Golf’s restaurant, according to the

Lin remained at the golf course until 2018, when he was hired as an adviser to White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong. Lin worked for Chong for three years, acco🅠rding to sources. Chong did not return a request for comment from The Post.

The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment Friday, and a spokesperson for the mayor’s office referred The Post to the FDNY.

Lin’s ties come under scrutiny at a time of heightened awareness of Chinese influence in New York, after the arrest of Linda Sun, a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, earlier this month and after a Chinese NYPD cop was fired for allegedly spying for China.

Sun is charged with 10 criminal counts, including money laundering, visa fraud, conspiring to act as a foreign agent for China and other crimes. She has pleaded not guilty in Brookl♏yn federal court.

Meanwhile, sources have told The Post the federal investigation that led to the raid on Caban and others is looking into trips tak𝔍en by senior staff to countries including Turkey and Qatar paid for by foreign governments and pro-policing groups.