FBI Arrests Alleged Chinese Agent at LAX Over Taiwan President's Son

The FBI arrested Wanying "Heather" Zhang, an Irvine, California, realtor, at Los Angeles International Airport on October 4, CBS News reported. Agents took her into custody on Sunday before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China, according to CBS. She is charged with acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

A criminal complaint dated October 3, 2026 was filed in federal court by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad in Los Angeles, CBS reported. It accuses Zhang and an accomplice of traveling to Seattle, Washington, in September 2025 and taking pictures at the suburban home of a top Taiwanese official's family. Law enforcement sources told CBS the target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai. Fox News reported she allegedly traveled to Seattle to surveil relatives of Taiwan's president.

FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt wrote in the complaint that if China wanted leverage over Taiwan's president during a conflict, the location and photos of his close relatives, including their homes and cars, could be useful to Beijing, according to CBS. The complaint says the pair rented a black Nissan Rogue and drove to the home. Images from a neighbor's security camera, included in the complaint, appear to show the two filming Ting-Yu Lai, his wife and their child as they arrived home that evening, CBS reported. CBS matched the images to an address near Seattle owned by Ting-Yu Lai.

Ting-Yu Lai is an engineer in his 30s who attended college in America and works for the Dutch electronics firm Philips, CBS reported, citing Taiwanese media. Zhang's husband, Edric Ding, a realtor at the same firm, told CBS by phone Sunday that he did not know anything yet and declined further comment. It was not immediately clear whether Zhang has an attorney. These are allegations, not findings of guilt.