A "Chinese foreign agent" was arrested by FBI agents Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to board a flight for Shanghai, China. According to a criminal complaint filed by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad on Saturday, Wanying "Heather" Zhang, 34, of Irvine, surveilled Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai, at the direction of Chinese officials. Zhang is charged with acting as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced the arrest on X.
We just arrested a Chinese foreign agent at LAX attempting to depart for China. Wanying Zhang, aka “Heather,” 34, of Irvine, was arrested today by @FBILosAngeles on a federal complaint charging her with acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China. According to the affidavit, Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 and, at the direction of PRC officials, surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, sending photos, videos, and license plate information to those officials. She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection. She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense. She will appear in federal court in Los Angeles tomorrow for her initial appearance. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 4, 2026
He wrote:
We just arrested a Chinese foreign agent at LAX attempting to depart for China. Wanying Zhang, aka “Heather,” 34, of Irvine, was arrested today by @FBILosAngeles on a federal complaint charging her with acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China.
According to the affidavit, Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 and, at the direction of PRC officials, surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, sending photos, videos, and license plate information to those officials.
She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection. She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense.
She will appear in federal court in Los Angeles tomorrow for her initial appearance. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Zhang and her husband, Edric Ding, are both Realtors with JC Pacific Capital in Irvine. A review of the firm's website reveals that it caters mainly to Chinese buyers, and all but one of the firm's 187 agents have Chinese names. The firm also offers mortgage, escrow, and property management services.
CBS News obtained a copy of the criminal complaint and the affidavit of FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt in support of the complaint. The documents contained texts sent to Zhang's Chinese government handler using the Chinese messaging app WeChat and were stored on her iCloud account.
The complaint claims Zhang was introduced in June 2025 to one of the Chinese government officials by a classmate from her alma mater, Beijing's University of International Relations, which Holt said has close ties to the Ministry of State Security.
Holt's affidavit claims Zhang booked a private room in Changsha, China, during a June 2025 trip, where she allegedly met the government official and received her surveillance mission.
She later texted the official, "I can take care of this thing," according to the complaint.
On Aug. 26, 2025, Zhang wrote: "I will be busy with work in L.A. this week. I will probably go to Seattle next week," and the official replied: "Ok. Thank you for your hard work," the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Zhang met with a Chinese government official during a June 2025 trip to Changsha, China and "received her surveillance mission." She later texted that official to say, "I can handle this thing," and flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on September 1, 2025 along with a man only named in the complaint as "Individual 1" then rented a car and drove to Ting-Yu's suburban home. She video recorded Ting-Yu and his wife arriving at the home with their young child, and sent photos, video, and two license plate numbers to her handler.
Zhang's husband was not with her at LAX; when CBS News reached him at home Sunday he said, "I don't know anything yet" and declined to comment further.
Zhang's first appearance is scheduled in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday.
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