A 34-year-old Irvine real estate agent was pulled from a departing flight at Los Angeles International Airport as she tried to leave for China, accused by federal prosecutors of secretly working as an agent of the Chinese government and surveilling a relative of a Taiwanese government official. Wanying Zhang, who also goes by Heather, was taken into custody by the FBI's Los Angeles field office as she attempted to board the flight on Sunday.
A federal complaint charges Zhang with acting as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China, according to the New York Post. Prosecutors say she traveled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese government officials and surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, a claim First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli laid out in describing the case. The complaint states that Zhang sent photos, videos, and license plate information gathered during that trip to her alleged handlers.
Investigators say the case was built in part on WeChat communications pulled from Zhang's iCloud backup, revealing text exchanges with two people believed to be Chinese government officials. According to the complaint, those exchanges show Zhang discussing tasks that led to the surveillance of the official's relative, and prosecutors say she coordinated the Seattle trip with an associate and used tradecraft intended to avoid detection.
A Real Estate Career Built in Orange County
Outside of the alleged surveillance work, Zhang built a visible career in Southern California real estate. She held California Department of Real Estate license #02015465 and represented JC Pacific Corp in Irvine, where records reviewed by Zillow show she actively managed luxury home listings valued up to $8.5 million through September. Multiple MLS listings show her marketing multimillion-dollar homes in Orange County up until just before her arrest.
Essayli said Zhang failed to notify the Attorney General that she was acting on behalf of a foreign government, which itself is a federal offense. Under 18 U.S.C. § 951, acting as an unregistered foreign agent subject to the direction or control of a foreign government carries a statutory maximum penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the Federal Criminal Defense Attorneys. As Arnold & Porter has explained, Section 951 is a different legal tool than the Foreign Agents Registration Act — rather than regulating public political disclosures, it directly criminalizes undisclosed physical surveillance or operational assistance carried out under a foreign government's direction.
Zhang is expected to make her initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles today.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Southern California
Zhang's arrest lands amid a string of recent Central District of California cases targeting alleged covert activity tied to the Chinese government. In May, former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang pleaded guilty to violating the same statute after admitting she secretly acted as a PRC agent while holding public office, spreading pro-Beijing propaganda through a local outlet under the direction of Chinese officials — a case Hoodline traced through its political fallout. Just days before Zhang's arrest, federal prosecutors also charged a San Gabriel tech company owner with smuggling more than $300 million worth of export-controlled Nvidia AI servers to China, according to the Department of Justice.
The pattern extends beyond Southern California. Hoodline previously reported on a Michigan businesswoman facing a similar charge after being detained at an airport on allegations of gathering intelligence for Chinese security services. Federal officials define this kind of activity as transnational repression — covert efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, monitor, or silence dissidents, political opponents, and diaspora members living inside the United States, per the FBI.
Earlier Southern California cases followed a similar script. In May 2023, federal authorities arrested Los Angeles residents John Chen and Lin Feng for acting as unregistered PRC agents after they allegedly attempted to bribe an undercover officer posing as an IRS agent to target U.S.-based dissidents and Falun Gong practitioners; Chen was later sentenced to federal prison. And in a New York case, pro-democracy advocate Shujun Wang was convicted in 2024 under the same statute after prosecutors proved he secretly gathered intelligence on Chinese dissidents and Taiwanese democracy supporters for China's Ministry of State Security, embedding himself in pro-democracy organizations while feeding information to Beijing handlers.
Members of Congress have also pressed for scrutiny of alleged Chinese interference closer to home, formally requesting a Department of Justice transnational repression investigation after a break-in and vandalism at the June 4th Massacre Memorial Museum in El Monte earlier this year. Lawmakers urged the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office to examine possible ties between that incident and directives from the Chinese Communist Party. Whether investigators have identified any additional co-conspirators tied to Zhang's alleged Seattle trip, and how long she may have been operating under Beijing's direction while working in Orange County real estate, remain open questions as her case moves forward in federal court.
