'Brazen plot': Mansion-selling California realtor charged with spying for China - USA Today
Federal authorities have charged a California realtor with spying on the son of the president of Taiwan in the United States.
Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather Zhang, was taken into custody Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport, where she’d planned to board a flight to China. The 34-year-old resident of Irvine, in Orange County, was charged with acting in the U.S. as an unregistered agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China.
According to Realtor.com, Zhang is a licensed realtor with JC Pacific Capital Inc. in Irvine and has sold more than 100 properties worth an average of $3.3 million.
“The complaint in this case lays bare a brazen plot directed by the Chinese government to conduct a covert surveillance mission on U.S. soil,” Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said in a news release. “Wanying Zhang’s arrest for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government makes clear how far China’s authoritarian regime will go to advance its goals.”
According to court documents, Zhang worked in the U.S. as an agent of the Chinese government between June and September 2025 without notifying the U.S. Attorney General as required by federal law.
During that time, at the direction and control of Chinese government officials, Zhang arranged with others to promote Chinese interests by surveilling the Seattle home of a family member of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The office did not directly name Zhang's alleged target, but the FBI later shared a New York Post report identifying him as Lai Ting-yu, a U.S. resident and the son of Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te.
In June 2025, according to court documents, Zhang traveled from Southern California to China, where she met with Chinese government officials and was tasked with the U.S. surveillance. The documents say Zhang attended Beijing's University of International Relations, which is linked to China’s intelligence apparatus.
On Aug. 29, 2025, the documents said, Zhang and another unidentified person departed John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Las Vegas, then flew to Seattle three days later. As they left, Zhang messaged a photo of her boarding pass to a person believed to be a Chinese government official.
Upon arrival, Zhang and the other person rented a car and drove to the Lai's home where, according to an affidavit filed by FBI special agent Kevin Holt, a neighbor’s home security camera showed them apparently collecting phone camera footage from Lai's car and his family arriving at the home.
Zhang messaged the government official, saying, “Saw him, young male, it’s the young one.” When the official asked Zhang to join an audio call, the affidavit said, she responded, “I am videorecording.”
In addition to video footage, Zhang also sent the official license plate numbers for two vehicles parked in front of the home, the affidavit said.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the objections of the government in Taipei, and has never renounced use of force to bring Taiwan under its control even as it says it would prefer "peaceful reunification."
According to Holt's affidavit, the surveillance was designed to acquire potential leverage over the Taiwanese president in the event of conflict.
"In addition to modernizing its military, the PRC has embarked on coercive activities that go beyond normal diplomatic, economic, and security activities, which are meant to erode Taiwan’s will to fight a war against China," Holt wrote.
If convicted, Zhang would face up to 10 years in federal prison.
“Protecting our national security means confronting foreign governments that engage in covert operations in our nation,” said Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
Earlier this year, a Southern California man received a four-year federal sentence for covertly operating as a Chinese agent while serving as campaign advisor to a local city council candidate, carrying out orders that included monitoring Taiwan's former president during her 2023 California visit.
