California woman indicted in Taiwan spying case

The indictment against Wanying Zhang, 34, of Irvine, was filed Oct. 9 in federal court in the Central District of California. NBC News reported that it mirrors an earlier criminal complaint and centers on alleged surveillance carried out between roughly June and September 2025.

Prosecutors allege Zhang, who also used the name Heather, acted at the direction of an unnamed Chinese government official who had been her classmate at the University of International Relations in China. An FBI investigator described that university in earlier court papers as closely affiliated with China’s intelligence apparatus.

According to the indictment, Zhang was asked to send pictures “of the house” where the Taiwanese president’s son lived. Prosecutors say she traveled from California through Las Vegas to the Seattle area and conducted surveillance from outside the home, gathering photos, video and license plate information and sending it to the person alleged to be her Chinese handler. They also allege she traveled to China in August 2025 to meet with a Chinese government official and, after returning, said she would most likely be going to where the victim was the following week.

The target’s name is not public in the material described by NBC News. That omission is not incidental. It fits the shape of a case in which prosecutors are describing alleged foreign-directed surveillance around a politically sensitive figure without identifying him directly in public filings.

Zhang’s lawyer, Craig Harbaugh, did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. But he had previously challenged the government’s theory in court, describing Zhang as an upstanding Irvine resident who lives with her husband and two young daughters and arguing the allegations were unsupported. NBC News reported that Zhang remains in custody after a magistrate judge found she posed a flight risk. She is scheduled to appear in federal district court Friday for a post-indictment arraignment.