The Southern California real estate agent accused of spying on a prominent Taiwanese family for China allegedly had access to $190,000 in a secret Chinese crypto account, as allegations surfaced that the she is \u201can unfit mother\u201d at a court hearing Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Wanying Zhang appeared in an LA courthouse wearing a white jumpsuit and shackles alongside new attorney Craig Harbaugh, who asked for home confinement for his client. The government vehemently argued that she was a flight risk.<\/p>\n
Accused Chinese spy Wanying Zhang appears in court on Wednesday. Bill Robles<\/p>\n
Wanying Zhang and her husband Edric Ding are shown with their child in this undated photo. Facebook\/@edric.ding.9<\/p>\n
At the hearing, prosecutors accused Zhang of having access to $190,000 in a secret Chinese cryptocurrency account that she \u201cwas still receiving profits from.\u201d They also pointed to Zhang\u2019s brother having ties to the Chinese government.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors referenced a seized iCloud video they said would show Zhang was \u201ca danger to society,\u201d arguing that her ties to \u201cher family may not be as strong as they seem\u201d as her husband Edric Ding looked on.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have produced this video and I could say she\u2019s an unfit mother,\u201d Judge Steve Kim said, as it was revealed that Zhang has \u201cyoung children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edric Ding outside the federal courthouse in Los Angeles on Monday. Pedro Colo for CA Post<\/p>\n
Prosecutors pointed to a dozen one-way trips Zhang allegedly took to China, Paris and Japan. Dept Of Justice<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also pointed to a dozen one-way trips Zhang allegedly took to China, Paris and Japan. Harbaugh argued that purchasing one-way tickets was more economical.<\/p>\n
Judge Kim ruled Zhang was a flight risk, and she was taken into custody by US Marshals without bail.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s expected back in court on October 19.<\/p>\n
Zhang\u2019s initial hearing on Monday took a bizarre turn when her public defender, Chad Pennington, asked for a side conversation with the judge seconds after the proceeding began, leading to a lengthy 20-minute court recess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the parties returned, Zhang was asked if she understood what she was accused of and answered \u201cyes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The real estate agent was arrested at LAX Sunday after being accused of spying for China. Zhang, also known as \u201cHeather,\u201d was busted as she tried to board a flight to Shanghai.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Video taken shortly after Zhang\u2019s arrest showed several FBI agents leading her through an LAX airport terminal.\u00a0 X account of US Attorney Bill Essayli\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Video taken shortly after the arrest showed several FBI agents leading the handcuffed Zhang through an airport terminal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old, who lives in Irvine, is accused of working with handlers from the People\u2019s Republic of China to surveil the son of Taiwan President Ching-te Lai.<\/p>\n
Zhang, who worked for a real estate firm along with her husband, allegedly traveled to Seattle in September 2025 to spy on Ting-Yu Lai, an engineer in his 30s who is based in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surveillance camera photographs also allegedly caught Zhang sitting in a car with an accomplice taking pictures of his house and close relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surveillance camera photographs also allegedly caught Zhang sitting in a car with an accomplice taking pictures of his house and close relatives.\u00a0 Dept Of Justice<\/p>\n
She appeared to have lived a jet-setting lifestyle before federal authorities detained her.<\/p>\n
Zhang\u00a0documented trips to Paris<\/a> and outings with friends across the West Coast on her social media pages.<\/p>\n She also appeared to have graduated from USC, where the total cost of attendance can run more than $75,000 per year.<\/p>\n Zhang documented trips to Paris and outings with friends across the West Coast on her social media pages. Instagram\/@heatherzhangwy<\/p>\n Zhang\u2019s arrest comes amid several other high-profile California cases involving allegations of covert Chinese government activity or influence.\u00a0 Instagram\/@heatherzhangwy<\/p>\n Ding\u2019s \u00a0social media shows outings<\/a> to Korean barbecue restaurants, as well as anime and sword-art expos.<\/p>\n The couple is also seen posing with what appears to be their child.<\/p>\n Zhang\u2019s arrest comes amid several other high-profile California cases involving allegations of covert Chinese government activity or influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Disgraced former Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang<\/a> entered a plea in federal court following the bombshell admission she was a spy for China in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zhang and her husband. Facebook\/@edric.ding.9<\/p>\n Former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell confessed to a prescription drug-fueled sex romp with a suspected Chinese spy<\/a> Christine Fang, also known as \u201cFang Fang,\u201d<\/a> according to newly released FBI files in August.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a problem with Beijing using Chinese Americans for their own purposes in California,\u201d First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said. \u201cThey are using them for their own foreign affairs because they are playing the long game to get a competitive advantage over us.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Southern California real estate agent accused of spying on a prominent Taiwanese family for China allegedly had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,3573,3622,4182,59116,43437,3586],"class_list":["post-488856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-china","tag-court","tag-metro","tag-spy","tag-taiwan","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}