Federal agents arrested an alleged Chinese foreign agent at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday as she was preparing to leave the United States for Communist China.
Wanying “Heather” Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, was taken into custody by the FBI at LAX and charged in a federal criminal complaint with acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.
Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli announced the arrest on Sunday, saying Zhang was caught attempting to depart for China.
“We just arrested a Chinese foreign agent at LAX attempting to depart for China,” Essayli announced on his official X account.
According to Essayli, Zhang allegedly traveled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of PRC officials and conducted surveillance on a close relative of a Taiwanese government official.
