FBI agents arrested Wanying Zhang, a 34-year-old Irvine real estate agent, at Los Angeles International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Shanghai on allegations that she acted as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government and surveilled the son of Taiwan’s president in Seattle.
Appearing Sunday on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the alleged surveillance targeted a relative of Taiwan’s president.
‼️ CHINESE 🇨🇳 AGENT 'HEATHER' ARRESTED AT LAX trying to 'FLEE TO CHINA'
— KobeJordan (@timothybumper) October 5, 2026
Wanying Zhang, 34, allegedly acted as an 'UNREGISTERED AGENT' for Beijing
Allegedly SURVEILLED Taiwanese official’s relative in Seattle, sending PHOTOS & VIDEOS to PRC officials pic.twitter.com/mfN6smRJi9
“She was conducting surveillance on behalf of the Chinese government. She was acting as a foreign agent,” Essayli said.
“And she was spying on a relative of the president of Taiwan here in the U.S.”
The alleged target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, according to law-enforcement sources who spoke to CBS News.
Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, is charged in violation of U.S. 18 U.S.C. § 951, with federal prosecutors accusing her of traveling to Seattle with an associate on or about Sept. 1, 2025, to conduct surveillance at the direction of Chinese officials.
FIRST ON CBS:
— Josh Boswell (@JoshTBoswell) October 4, 2026
FBI arrested an alleged Chinese agent at LAX after she allegedly surveilled the son of the Taiwanese president.
1/x 🧵 pic.twitter.com/v0XthMnn9q
“If the PRC [People’s Republic of China] wish to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict, the location and pictures of the close relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, including pictures of their homes and cars, could be useful to the PRC,” wrote FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt in the Oct. 3, 2026, criminal complaint.
The Justice Department says Zhang and the associate rented a black SUV for less than seven hours and waited outside the victims Seattle residence, which a neighbor’s security camera caught them in the vehicle from about 4:50 p.m. until after 6 p.m., when the target arrived home with family members, including children.
According to the investigators, Zhang and her associate held phones as if they were taking pictures or video and reclined a seat while photographing the property.
While still outside the home, Zhang sent a Chinese official two vehicle license plate numbers and a roughly 16-second video of the house. Vehicle records cited in the investigation show the plates were registered to the target. The associate can be heard on the video saying they had arrived at the house.
FBI arrests Chinese agent at Los Angeles in an alleged surveillance of Taiwanese president's son. pic.twitter.com/b5RZAYlKq7
— RELISH WIRE NEWS (@relishwirenews) October 5, 2026
Days later Zhang told the associate to send the Seattle pictures by AirDrop, not by text or WeChat, because she needed to send them back that day. When the associate said he had deleted the images, Zhang described the property to the official in an audio message, noting two cars at the door and a U.S. flag.
The travel pattern was unusual — last-minute bookings, flights through several airports and brief use of a rental car, and the instruction to use AirDrop were consistent with methods intended to avoid detection.
“She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection,” Essayli wrote. “She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense.”
Zhang attended the University of International Relations in Beijing, a school investigators described as closely affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security, and cites messages recovered under a search warrant for iCloud accounts in which she appeared to acknowledge at least two contacts worked for the Chinese government.
Along with the charge are more detailed allegations: Investigators allege a June 2025 meeting in China is when a Chinese official assigned Zhang the Seattle task.
This is not the first case of its kind; there are dozens more. This arrest follows other recent cases in the same district involving allegations of unregistered work for Beijing.
In May, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang was charged with acting as an illegal agent of the (People’s Republic of China), accused of operating a purported community news site at the direction of Chinese officials. Her former associate, Yaoning Sun, is serving a four-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent.
FBI Director Kash Patel was also busy fighting the case on X; post, he pushed the bureau was focused on foreign espionage operations conducted on U.S. soil.
“Foreign adversaries take note: America is no longer a safe place to run your espionage operations,” Patel said. “Allegedly surveil a foreign leader’s family on U.S. soil for the PRC — and try to catch a flight back to Shanghai? Not happening.”
In Essayli account, Zhang, a naturalized
U.S. citizen, would make an initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles the day after her arrest.
CBS News reported contact with Zhang’s husband they called Edric Ding, said he was also a realtor at the same firm, and the husband’s only response was: “I don’t know anything yet,” and that he refused to comment further.
