Federal authorities said they arrested an Irvine, California woman Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to China.
Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said Wanying Zhang, 34, who also goes by the name “Heather,” was arrested by the FBI on a federal complaint charging her with acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
According to a federal affidavit, Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 under the direction of Chinese officials to surveil a close relative of a Taiwanese government official. Federal law requires any individual acting as an agent of a foreign government to notify the U.S. Attorney General…