Realtor arrested at LAX for surveilling Taiwan president's son for China

California realtor Wanying “Heather” Zhang was arrested by the FBI at LAX, accused of acting as a Chinese agent. She allegedly surveilled Ting-Yu Lai, the US-based son of Taiwan's president, in Seattle on behalf of the PRC government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a California real estate agent at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday following disclosures to CBS News from law enforcement sources that she had allegedly surveilled the US-based son of Taiwan’s president.

Wanying “Heather” Zhang, 34, was taken into custody by federal law enforcement officials at LAX prior to boarding a scheduled flight destined for Shanghai, China, facing formal charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Edric Ding, Zhang’s husband and a fellow realtor at the same firm, told CBS News during a telephone interview on Sunday that “I don’t know anything yet”, while declining to offer further remarks. It remained undetermined whether Zhang had secured legal representation.

Details from the Criminal Complaint

According to a criminal complaint submitted to a federal court by an FBI counterintelligence investigator stationed in Los Angeles, Zhang and an accomplice allegedly travelled to Seattle, Washington, during September 2025 to photograph the suburban dwelling belonging to relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese official.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the alleged target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai. Ting-Yu, an engineer in his 30s, completed his higher education at US institutions and shares a young US-born son with his wife, Hsiao Chen, based on Taiwanese media reports. He currently maintains employment with the Dutch multinational electronics company Philips.

“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”, FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt wrote in the October 3, 2026, criminal complaint.

Taiwan has remained at the centre of high geopolitical tensions for decades, with the island maintaining that it is independent, while the Chinese government claims it is part of China. Furthermore, Taiwan is strategically located along major shipping routes and is home to manufacturing facilities producing some of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips.

The complaint alleges that Zhang and a man identified only as “Individual 1” flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on September 1, 2025. The pair then rented a black Nissan Rogue and drove to the residence they were allegedly targeting. Images from a neighbour’s security camera included in the complaint allegedly show the two “appearing to film” Ting-Yu, his wife and their child as they arrived home that evening. CBS News said it matched the images to an address near Seattle owned by Ting-Yu.

According to the complaint, Zhang allegedly sent messages to a Chinese government handler through the Chinese messaging app WeChat. She wrote, “Saw him. Young male. It’s that young one”, and “I am videorecording”, before sending two licence plate numbers. The FBI said the messages were obtained through a search warrant for Zhang’s iCloud account.

Recruitment and Mission

“Zhang was in contact with at least two people whom she appeared to acknowledge worked for the PRC government”, Holt wrote. The complaint alleges that Zhang was introduced to one of the Chinese government officials in June 2025 by a classmate from Beijing’s University of International Relations. Holt said the university has close ties to China’s Ministry of State Security.

During a June 2025 trip to Changsha, China, Zhang allegedly booked a private room where she met the government official and received the surveillance mission, according to Holt’s affidavit. She later sent a message to the official saying, “I can take care of this thing”, the complaint said.

On August 26, 2025, Zhang allegedly wrote, “I will be busy with work in L.A. this week. I will probably go to Seattle next week”, while the official replied, “Ok. Thank you for your hard work”, according to the complaint.

Zhang is a licensed California realtor with JC Pacific Capital Inc., with her Zillow profile listing 130 sales and listings across Los Angeles and neighbouring counties.

Profile of the Alleged Target

Ting-Yu earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2012. He then obtained a master’s degree in Bioengineering Innovation and Design from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 2013, followed by a PhD from the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, according to a profile from one of his academic publications.

Taiwanese television news station SETN reported that Ting-Yu met his Taiwanese wife while studying for his doctorate. They married in 2018 and had a child in the United States in 2020, according to Taiwan’s national news agency CNA.

Broader Context of Chinese Operations in the US

Chinese government agents have previously been accused of spying on and harassing Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the United States. Federal prosecutors said Shujun Wang, 75, infiltrated a Chinese pro-democracy group in Queens, New York, and provided information about it to China’s Ministry of State Security for 17 years. He was convicted in 2024 of acting as a covert foreign agent.

Two people were arrested in April 2023 over their involvement in an unofficial Chinese police station in Manhattan that was allegedly established to monitor Chinese dissidents.

The Justice Department has also warned about a Chinese security operation known as Operation Fox Hunt, which seeks to repatriate wanted Chinese nationals around the world and targets opponents of the Chinese government. New York-based Quanzhong An, whom prosecutors described as a leader of the US wing of Operation Fox Hunt, was sentenced in March 2025 after allegedly harassing a Chinese dissident in an effort to bring the person back to China.

In California, former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang was charged in May with acting as a Chinese agent. She admitted to receiving payment to promote Chinese government propaganda in the United States, including publishing an essay on her blog denying “forced labour” in China. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)