The report follows a court filing from FBI counterintelligence investigator Kevin Holt revealing that agents uncovered a covert money exfiltration network run by China's Ministry of State Security while investigating Zhang. That filing also confirmed that "Individual 1" from the criminal complaint, reportedly California construction entrepreneur Fatai Miao, had a romantic relationship with Zhang and took a one way flight to China about two weeks before FBI agents raided his empty Irvine home on Oct. 4.
FBI agents arrested Zhang, 34, on Oct. 4 at Los Angeles International Airport before she could board a flight to Shanghai. Prosecutors allege she and Miao traveled to Seattle in September 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials to surveil Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's son, Lai Ting-yu, and his family, sending back photos, videos and license plate data. A federal judge ordered Zhang held without bond on Oct. 7, rejecting her offer of more than $1.2 million in property after prosecutors cited an unrecovered Chinese passport, $190,000 she received in a Chinese bank account from an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange and her attendance at Beijing's Ministry of State Security-run University of International Relations.