The FBI arrested an Irvine, California realtor on Sunday on a charge of acting as an unregistered foreign agent after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's son.
Zoom in: Wanying "Heather" Zhang, 34, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport before boarding a flight to Shanghai, law enforcement sources told CBS News. Those sources said the target was Ting-Yu Lai, son of President Ching-Te Lai.
The backstory: A criminal complaint filed October 3 by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad in Los Angeles says Zhang and a man identified only as "Individual 1" flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on September 1, 2025, rented a black Nissan Rogue and drove to the family's home.
- Images from a neighbor's security camera included in the complaint allegedly show the pair appearing to film Ting-Yu, his wife and their child as they arrived home that evening.
What they're saying: Zhang allegedly texted a Chinese government contact: "Saw him. Young male. It's that young one," and "I am videorecording," followed by two license plate numbers, according to the complaint.
- FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt wrote that the location and pictures of a high-ranking Taiwanese official's close relatives "could be useful to the PRC" if Beijing wished to obtain leverage over Taiwan's president during any potential conflict.
Between the lines: The complaint says a classmate from Zhang's alma mater, Beijing's University of International Relations, introduced her to a Chinese official in June 2025, and Holt said the school has close ties to the Ministry of State Security.
By the numbers: Zhang is a licensed California realtor with JC Pacific Capital, and her Zillow profile lists 130 sales and listings around Los Angeles and neighboring counties. Her husband works at the same firm.
Why it matters: Chinese agents have been caught monitoring dissidents on US soil before, and prosecutors say Shujun Wang informed on a Queens pro-democracy group for 17 years before his 2024 conviction. Surveilling a sitting president's family extends that playbook to foreign heads of state.
