Asian American Republican organization dumps spa owner

FACEBOOK / YANG

Cindy Yang took this selfie at a Superbowl party and posted it on her Facebook page.

The Chinese American entrepreneur who allegedly acted as a go-between to introduce Chinese business interests to Donald Trump was dumped from a GOP organization when it became known that massage spas that she used to own were used for illicit sex.

The National Committee of Asian American Republicans fired Li Yang, also known as Cindy Yang, who drew the attention of the Miami Herald as the former owner of massage spa that was involved with sex trafficking, according to authorities.

The spa's so-called employees, women from China, was allegedly part of a human trafficking operation, say authorities who were surveilling the spa for months before raiding it last week. Ten spas were shut down and three women were arrested.

Jupiter, Florida police said Kraft paid for sexual services at the spa and that there is video evidence of Kraft in both instances. Kraft has denied any illegal activity. So far, 173 people have been charged with crimes in the bust.

Among the hundreds of "clients" facing possible charges of solicitation was Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. The spa's current owner was among those arrested.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder says his deputies found that the women at the spas had no days off, and averaged about eight clients a day for a total of 1,500 men a year, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

"The women slept on parlor tables, cooked in the back of the establishment and had no access to transportation," the Sentinel reports.

Yang, who has been in the US for 20 years, was not charged for any crimes. However she and her family own other spas up and down Florida's Atlantic coast that police say are under investigation, according to the Herald.

TWITTER / OLIVIA HITCHCOCK

The shuttered Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida has become a tourist attraction.

Yang and her family have not been active i politics until recently. The Herald reported that Yang and her family donated thousands of dollars to the Republican Party and GOP candidates.

This weekend Mother Jones reported that Yang had founded an investment firm in 2013  that offered Chinese clients access to the Trump family and other political figures. Pictures on the firm's website show Yang with Trump and a picture of her at Trump's Superbowl party at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort and golf course.

The firm's website, which has been deleted, listed events where Yang and others at the company mingled with the president and members of his cabinet, such as Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. It also lists photos with the president's family, including sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., top White House aide Kellyanne Conway, former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka and Fox News host Jesse Watters.

“(Cindy Yang’s) private businesses have absolutely nothing to do with our activities, Clif Li of the Asian GOP.

“We wish her well, and hope all [this] media coverage won't be a major discouragement for Asian Americans’ participation in political processes,” Li told the South China Morning Post. Yang's name has been scrubbed from the group's website.

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