A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a 34-year-old Irvine real estate agent accused of acting as an unregistered agent for China will stay in federal custody, turning aside a defense package of property equity and financial guarantees that together exceeded $1 million.
Wanying Zhang was arrested Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to board a flight to Shanghai. She now faces federal prosecution over allegations that she surveilled a relative of Taiwan’s president at the direction of Chinese government officials.
Her attorney, Craig Harbaugh, pressed the court for release in a nine-page filing, pointing to Zhang’s American citizenship, her family ties and a record of returning from overseas trips. She came to the United States in 2014, became a naturalized citizen in 2020 and has worked in Orange County real estate for roughly a decade, he said. She lives with her husband and their two daughters, ages 8 and 5.
The defense offered an Irvine residence carrying at least $700,000 in equity as security, plus $120,000 in financial guarantees from her husband, his sister, his father and a family friend. Harbaugh also proposed GPS-monitored home detention, the surrender of travel documents, electronic-device monitoring and restrictions on entering airports or contacting anyone connected to the case.
Prosecutors were not persuaded. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Elbogen told Judge Steve Kim that Zhang had received $190,000 into a Chinese bank account from what she described as an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange, and that hundreds of thousands of dollars sat at her disposal in China. Zhang has a brother with a history of working for the Chinese government, Elbogen said, and her parents and siblings live there. A Chinese passport was not recovered during an FBI search of her home, the prosecutor confirmed in court.
Kim noted “inconsistencies” about how many properties and assets Zhang owns and “where the money is coming from.” Prosecutors accused her of misstating her holdings on post-arrest asset forms, saying she listed one property when she in fact owned several. Harbaugh called it a “misunderstanding.”
Elbogen went further, labeling Zhang a “secret agent of a hostile foreign power” and accusing her of spying for Beijing. “She has been lying to her own family about who she is,” the prosecutor told the court.
The criminal complaint traces the allegations to September 2025, when, according to the FBI, Zhang took part in a surveillance operation outside the Seattle-area home of a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, identified in reporting as Taiwan’s first son, Lai Ting-yu, and his family. An affidavit from FBI counterintelligence special agent Kevin Holt says investigators reviewed neighbor security-camera footage allegedly showing Zhang and another person photographing the relative and family members near the residence.
Authorities also allege Zhang sent photographs, video and vehicle information to a suspected Chinese government official through electronic communications.
Investigators said Zhang attended the University of International Relations in Beijing between 2010 and 2014, an institution the FBI describes as closely associated with China’s intelligence apparatus. The ministry “recruits heavily” from the university, Holt wrote. Two law enforcement sources said Zhang ranked among the top students in her class, and her Facebook page shows connections to eight current or former staff and students there.
Her travel history drew scrutiny as well. Elbogen said Zhang has visited China 12 times since 2014 and traveled internationally 29 times, including to Paris, France and Japan. The defense disputed the weight of a one-way ticket to China, arguing Zhang routinely booked international trips with separately purchased outbound and return flights, and that she returned to the United States after each of her recent journeys. Her planned October trip, Harbaugh said, was meant to visit her mother and had been postponed until after her daughters’ birthdays.
Zhang sat in court Wednesday in shackles and a white jumpsuit, represented by Harbaugh after a public defender stood beside her at a brief Monday appearance. Her husband, Eric Ding, a realtor at the same Irvine firm, watched from the public gallery with his sister, attorney Elaine Lori, at his side. Both declined to comment.
Prosecutors said Zhang’s suspected accomplice on the Seattle trip, named only as Individual 1 in the complaint, left for China on a one-way ticket about two weeks ago. Pretrial Services had recommended detention over concerns Zhang might not appear in court, and her defense acknowledged that recommendation while arguing strict conditions would answer it.
Separately, CBS News reported Zhang’s links to a Chinese American advocacy group with deep ties to the Chinese government. She traveled to San Francisco with the All American Chinese Association in 2023 to celebrate Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit there. Pro-China activists attacked pro-democracy protesters outside Xi’s hotel; there is no evidence Zhang took part in the violence. A photograph shows her behind an AACA banner beside the group’s leader, Edward Cai, who previously served as vice president of an organization so close to the Chinese government it was forced to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Cai and the association did not respond to a request for comment.
Zhang has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Her attorneys contest the charge and say she intends to establish her innocence. She remains in the custody of U.S. Marshals in Los Angeles.
