Alleged Chinese agent accused of surveilling Taiwanese president’s son appears in federal court

Updated on: October 5, 2026 / 10:03 PM EDT / CBS News

A suspected Chinese agent appeared in a Los Angeles federal court Monday after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's son near Seattle last year.

Orange County, California, realtor Wanying "Heather" Zhang, 34, appeared calm, dressed in a tailored, white zip-up jacket, sweatpants and white sneakers, with shackles on her wrists and ankles. CBS News was first to report that the FBI arrested Zhang on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China.

In court, she spoke only to confirm her name and that she understood the charge against her of working as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government.

Despite selling her Irvine home for $6 million in June, Zhang was represented by a public defender at the hearing.

Judge Steve Kim rescheduled her detention hearing to Wednesday to give Zhang more time to hire a private criminal defense attorney.

Zhang was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals until her Wednesday hearing.

The public defender, Chad Pennington, told the judge he believed Zhang intended to hire private counsel.

Her husband, Edric Ding, watched the proceedings, flanked by his sister, attorney…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/