California Real Estate Agent Charged with Spying for China After Dramatic Airport Arrest

A California real estate agent has been taken into custody by the FBI on charges that she secretly spied on behalf of the Chinese government.Wanying “Heather” Zhang, 34, was arrested on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to depart for China, according to federal officials.Zhang has been accused of working as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and surveilling a relative of a high-ranking Taiwanese official while the person was living in the U.S., according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.Citing flight records and other collected evidence, the affidavit filed with the complaint states that Zhang and an associate, referred to as Individual 1, travelled to Seattle on or around September 1, 2025. There, the complaint alleges they filmed the victim and his family and communicated their findings with at least two people whom Zhang understood to be PRC government officials.Zhang is a licensed California real estate agent with JC Pacific Capital Inc. in Irvine. She has sold 126 properties with an average price of $3.3 million, according to a public profile.A spokes person from JC Pacific Capital told Realtor.com® that they “...