California woman accused of spying for China will be jailed while awaiting trial
LOS ANGELES — A California woman accused of acting as a Chinese spy inside the U.S.will remain jailed pending her trial after a judge sided Wednesday with federal prosecutors who argued that she poses a flight risk.Wanying Zhang, 34, who sometimes goes by Heather, will remain in pretrial detention following the ruling by U.S.
Magistrate Judge Steve Kim.The FBI arrested her Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport before she could board a flight to China.In a criminal complaint, prosecutors accused Zhang of spying on a son of Taiwan’s president outside his residence in the Seattle area at the behest of Chinese officials.
Zhang, of Irvine, about 42 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, hadn’t registered as a foreign agent as required, they said.Wanying Zhang in an undated photo.U.S.Attorney for the Central District of California via APZhang was represented in court Wednesday by veteran criminal defense attorney Craig Harbaugh, who argued she wouldn’t flee in part because of her strong family connections to Southern California, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters.“The government’s theory — she’s been a sleeper agent for the last 10 years, working as a real estate agent, raising her family and will choose to go to China and abandon her work, her family and her home — it’s not supported,” Harbaugh said.Zhang’s family had been willing to put up their home equity — valued at $700,000 — combined with bonds from her husband, his sister, his father and a family friend totaling $120,000 as an assurance that she would appear in court.
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