A suspected Chinese agent appeared in a Los Angeles federal court Monday after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's son near Seattle last year. Orange County, California, realtor Wanying "Heather" Zhang, 34, appeared calm, dressed in a tailored, white zip-up jacket, sweatpants and white sneakers, with shackles on her wrists and ankles. CBS News was first to report that the FBI arrested Zhang on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China.
In court, she spoke only to confirm her name and that she understood the charge against her of working as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. Despite selling her Irvine home for $6 million in June, Zhang was represented by a public defender at the hearing. Judge Steve Kim rescheduled her detention hearing to Wednesday to give Zhang more time to hire a private criminal defense attorney.
Zhang was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals until her Wednesday hearing. The public defender, Chad Pennington, told the judge he believed Zhang intended to hire private counsel.
Her husband, Edric Ding, watched the proceedings, flanked by his sister, attorney Elaine Lori. Standing at the podium, Zhang looked back at her husband briefly, but showed no emotion. Lori and Ding declined to comment inside the courthouse and remained silent as they were questioned by reporters as they walked to their car after the hearing.
When reached by phone on Sunday, Ding told CBS News, "I don't know anything yet," and declined to comment further. Three prosecutors represented the Justice Department: Scott Lara of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Elbogen and Colin Scott.
They said they were not authorized to comment. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli posted a video on X of Zhang being frogmarched through the airport by federal law enforcement, wearing the same outfit she wore in court on Monday. A criminal complaint, filed in federal court by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad in L.A., accused Zhang and an accomplice of traveling to Seattle in September 2025 and taking pictures at the suburban home of a top Taiwanese official's family.
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