Who is Yujing Zhang, the Chinese woman arrested in Mar-a-Lago?

Yujing Zhang – the Chinese woman arrested on Saturday after allegedly attempting to introduce an unusual number of electronic devices into President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club – has identified herself at the time. 39, a hearing in court earlier this week as an investor and consultant for a private company in Shanghai. equity company that seems to have amassed considerable wealth.

Speaking through the intermediary of an interpreter in Mandarin, Zhang told a magistrate that she owned a $ 1.3 million home in China and was driving a BMW, according to one audio recording of his first appearance in West Palm Beach Federal Court.

A federal prosecutor at the hearing said that Ms. Zhang posed an "extreme risk of flight" from the United States if she was released.

"It has no connection with the United States in general or with the South Florida District in particular," said Attorney John McMillan.

McMillan also said that "security implications" should prevent Zhang from making phone calls while in custody.

The FBI is investigating whether Zhang – who told US secret service agents that she had gone to Mar-L-Lago in Shanghai to attend a social event – was working as a Chinese intelligence agent Miami Herald told sources close to the investigation. His arrest at the president's private club revived an ongoing federal investigation, reported for the first time by the Herald, which had been examining potential Chinese spying activities in South Florida for several months. An affidavit attached to a criminal complaint indicated that she was carrying four cell phones, a laptop, an external hard drive and a USB key containing a "malicious program". The details of the hearing were first reported by CNN.

Zhang is accused of lying to a federal officer and entering a restricted property. She has not been charged with any charges related to espionage. Chinese diplomats in the United States said they were aware of Zhang's arrest and his help.

At the hearing on April 1, Zhang asked complex questions about the procedure to follow to obtain a bond and the hiring of a lawyer, issues that were passed to the judge by his interpreter.

"You are obviously very intelligent because your questions are excellent for an accused in this situation," said Judge William Matthewman, who added that the initial appearance of one hour and 15 minutes was probably the longest that took place before. him.

While Zhang had asked for an interpreter at the hearing, the secret services noted that she had demonstrated a "thorough knowledge of the English language, as well as her ability to converse and understand even the most subtle nuances of the English language "in its interactions with the agents of Mar-a. -Lago.

The affidavit submitted by a secret service agent indicated that Zhang was reading a document aloud in English and "would question the officers about the context of certain words in the form".

At the hearing, Zhang named her employer as Shanghai Zhirong Asset Management, a private equity firm, but said that she was paid "by project" and that she did not pay for it. had not made any money in 2019. She said that she was going to the United States for business quite often to have a US bank account, but felt that the account did not contain more than 5 $ 000 and she often brought money on her travels. She said she arrived in the country shortly before her arrest.

"My savings are mainly in China," Zhang told the court.

Zhang will remain in custody awaiting a detention hearing on Monday, but Matthewman has decided that she should be allowed to make phone calls in the country to seek a private lawyer. She eventually chose to be represented by a federal public defender.

She told the court that her family lived in China and that she wanted to make international calls and use the Internet to contact relatives and friends, which the investigating judge denied. She said she opened the Wells Fargo bank account because she was looking for a "trading partner" in the United States, but nothing had happened.

According to the criminal complaint, Zhang arrived at the Trump Club in Palm Beach on Saturday around noon to ask to use the pool and was allowed to go through a first secret service checkpoint.

In the affidavit, a secret service agent wrote that "due to a potential problem of language barrier," Mar-a-Lago's security thought that Zhang was tied to a club member with the same family name. But a receptionist quickly realized that she was not an approved guest. Zhang then announced that she had been invited to attend a "United Nations friendship event" between China and the United States. Although this name is not on the social calendar, a China-based group, the Chinese Friendship Association of the United Nations, organized an event that same day.

The ceremony was one of two events originally scheduled for Saturday and promoted online by Cindy Yang, owner of a massage parlor in South Florida, who also ran a business that promised Chinese business leaders to move on. time with Donald Trump. Both events had been canceled after the Herald published a selfie taken by Trump by Yang. Zhang apparently never received the message that the events were off.

Miami Herald editors, Jay Weaver and Alex Daugherty, and Miami Herald writer Keenan Chen contributed to this report.