Chinese woman arrested for sneaking into Mar-A-Lago

Part of the Mar-A-Lago resort.

A Chinese national lied her way into Mar-A-Lago resort but was arrested by the Secret Service Saturday before she could get near Donald Trump who was there.

The woman, Yujing Zhang, has been charged with making false statements and illegally entering a restricted area.

She was found to be carrying two Republic of China passports, four cell phones, an external hard drive and a thumbdrive containing malware.

Zhang claimed to be meeting with Li "Cindy" Yang, the former massage spa owner accused of selling access to Trump and his family to Chinese business people. 

Zhang briefly entered private resort after telling a security guards that she was there to visit the pool, according to the criminal complaint. Due to translation problems, she was allowed on the grounds.

At the reception building, she told another story, saying that she was there to attend a gathering, the "United Nations Chinese American Association."

The receptionist did not find any such meeting scheduled. That's when she alerted Secret Service. and Zhang underwent further questioning. She told the agents agents that a "Chinese friend" had told her to travel to Mar-a-Lago and speak with a member of Trump's family about U.S.-Chinese economic relations.

According to The Miami Herald , Zhang was trying to gain access to an event advertised on Chinese-language social media by Li “Cindy” Yang, the South Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who also ran a business selling access to President Donald Trump and his family.

The Secret Service issued a statement Tuesday evening, saying Mar-a-Lago — not the Secret Service — determines who is invited or welcome at the resort. They also noted that Zhang, spoke English with ease.

For lying to federal agents and entering a restricted area, Zhang faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The second charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Zhang's detention hearing is scheduled for April 8.

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Massage spa owner denies she's an agent for China

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Li Yang has posted numerous photos and selfies of her with Donald Trump.

Li “Cindy” Yang, the former owner of Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Florida, is speaking out after Democrats released a letter calling on the FBI to investigate her for selling access to prominent politicians for profit, according to news reports by ABC News and NBC News.

In their letter, dated March 15, Senate and House democrats said that the reported allegations against Yang, “if true,” raised “serious counterintelligence concerns.”

”… Although Ms. Yang’s activities may only be those of an unscrupulous actor allegedly selling access to politicians for profit, her activities also could permit adversary governments or their agents access to these same politicians to acquire potential material for blackmail or other even more nefarious purposes.”

Yang denies any wrong-doing, and says she’s being targeted because of her ethnicity and political affiliation.

“I’m Chinese. I’m Republican,” Yang said in her interview with NBC News. “That’s the reason the Democrats want to check me.”

Yang said she arrived in the U.S. in 1999 and is an American citizen, but some suspect that she could have been the target of Chinese intelligence. Frank Figliuzzi, an NBC News/MSNBC analyst and former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence said, “she enjoyed proximity to power and she even started a business offering to get you next to powerful people, politicians, even President Trump himself. In itself that would have been the target of the Chinese intelligence services, who could have fed people…into that pipeline of her business, and got them access and then taken it from there without her even knowing what they were doing.”

Yang dismissed allegations she was an unwitting agent to Chinese intelligence. She said she has never had any contact with members of the Chinese government.

“Everybody can go in when you pay the money for the charity,” Yang told ABC, speaking about the fundraisers she attended at Mar-a-Lago, the President’s Florida resort.

One of her attorneys also spoke to ABC News. He said Yang was not promoting access, but networking opportunities.

“There’s a lot of people in this country that take pictures with famous people,” Evan Turk said. “[And] you have to understand that in other countries, a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Yang said in her NBC News interview that she has struggled to sleep and eat because of the media attention. “I’m so scared,” she said.

The spotlight on Yang came after Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, was charged with soliciting a prostitute at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Kraft denies the charges.

Yang distanced herself from the spa, now under investigation for human trafficking. “I sold to her in 2012 or 2013,” Yang said in her NBC News interview. “How they do their business has nothing to do with me.”

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Asian American Republican organization dumps spa owner

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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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Sunday Read: Former owner of sex spa has ties to Trump

Li (Cindy) Yang and Donald Trump.

The former owner of the massage parlor that was raided by police and netted New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as an alleged client reportedly has close ties with Donald Trump.

Li Yang, 45, a self-made entrepreneur who started a chain of Asian day spas in South Florida. reportedly sold access to Trump to businessmen from China. Over the years, these establishments — many of which operate under the name Tokyo Day Spas — have gained a reputation for offering sexual services, according to the Miami Herald.
Yang, also known as Cindy Yang, told the Miami Herald she doesn’t know Trump personally, and that she doesn’t work for him, other than to volunteer for campaign events.

“I just come to some events. There’s nothing special,” said Yang, who immigrated from China 20 years ago.

Though Yang no longer owns the specific spa, Asian Orchids, Kraft supposedly visited, the newspaper noted that other spas her family still operates have “gained a reputation for offering sexual services.” Yang told the Herald she has never violated the law.

Several years ago, Yang began an investment business that has offered to provide opportunities for Chinese clients to meet withTrump and his family. And a website for the business—which includes numerous photos of Yang and her purported clients hobnobbing at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach—suggests she had some success in doing so.

According to the Herald, Yang is a registered Republican, and since 2017 she and her relatives have donated more than $42,000 to a Trump political action committee and more than $16,000 to Trump’s campaign. 

Yang and her husband, Zubin Gong, started GY US Investments LLC in 2017. The company describes itself on its website, which is mostly in Chinese, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.”

It appears the firm promoted its ability to provide opportunities for business people from China to meet with Trump or his family at nearby Mar-a-Lago, one of Trump's weekend retreat, or at the White House.

Yang's Facebook page, which was taken offline on Friday, was loaded with photos of her posing with GOP notables: Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Matt Gaetz or Florida, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, among others.

The Herald made several attempts to get a comment from Yang's firm and the White House but was unsuccessful.

Police were tipped off on possible illicit activity by a message therapist employed by the spa.

Kraft was arrested in a months-long investigation during which local police took photos and videotaped the comings and goings of clients.

As the investigation grew, spreading to other spas up and down the Florida coast, it was determined that the women offering sexual services were victims of human trafficking with the women coming from China. Evidence was found that the women were forced to live on the premises. Over 300 men have been named as clients.

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She runs an investment business that has offered to sell Chinese clients access to Trump and his family. And a website for the business—which includes numerous photos of Yang and her purported clients hobnobbing at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach—suggests she had some success in doing so.

The latest Trump political donor to draw controversy is Li Yang, a 45-year-old Florida entrepreneur from China who founded a chain of spas and massage parlors that included the one where New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft was recently busted for soliciting prostitution. She made the news this week when the Miami Herald reported that last month she had attended a Super Bowl viewing party at Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club and had snapped a selfie with the president during the event. Though Yang no longer owns the spa Kraft allegedly visited, the newspaper noted that other massage parlors her family runs have “gained a reputation for offering sexual services.” (She told the newspaper she has never violated the law.) Beyond this sordid tale, there is another angle to the strange story of Yang: She runs an investment business that has offered to sell Chinese clients access to Trump and his family. And a website for the business—which includes numerous photos of Yang and her purported clients hobnobbing at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach—suggests she had some success in doing so.

Yang, who goes by Cindy, and her husband, Zubin Gong, started GY US Investments LLC in 2017. The company describes itself on its website, which is mostly in Chinese, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.” But the firm notes that its services also address clients looking to make high-level connections in the United States. On a page displaying a photo of Mar-a-Lago, Yang’s company says its “activities for clients” have included providing them “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.” The company boasts it has “arranged taking photos with the President” and suggests it can set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.” (The same day the Herald story about Yang broke, the website stopped functioning.) 

The short bio of Yang on the website, identifying her as the founder and CEO of GY US Investments, shows her in a photo with Trump bearing his signature. It says she has been “settled in the United States for more than 20 years” and is a member of the “Presidential Fundraising Committee.” According to the Herald, Yang is a registered Republican, and since 2017 she and her relatives have donated more than $42,000 to a Trump political action committee and more than $16,000 to Trump’s campaign. Her Facebook page, which was taken offline on Friday, was loaded with photos of her posing with GOP notables: Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Matt Gaetz or Florida, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, among others.

The GY US Investments website lists upcoming events at Mar-a-Lago at which Yang’s clients presumably can mingle with Trump or members of his family. This includes something called the International Leaders Elite Forum, where Trump’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, will supposedly be the featured speaker. Attendees, the site says, will include “Chinese elites from various countries, including the US states, as well as elite leaders from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, Europe and other countries and regions.” Another event for which Yang’s firm says it can provide access is Trump’s annual New Year’s celebration at Mar-a-Lago. Elsewhere on the website, the firm boasts that “GY Company arranged a number of guests to attend the 2019 New Year’s Eve dinner. All the guests took photos with” members of Trump’s family. This page displays photos of Chinese executives and a Chinese movie star with Donald Trump Jr., suggesting that these pics were arranged by the company, and also includes a photo of Yang with Elizabeth Trump Grau.

Among the Chinese executives who attended that New Year’s event was Huachu Tang, the owner of an electric car company. Tang told Yahoo Financethat he flew 17 hours from Xi’an, China, with his family and an assistant in hopes of meeting with Trump at the party. Though he reportedly speaks almost no English, Tang said he hoped to use a Trump connection to build up his company’s brand before eventually taking it public on the New York Stock Exchange. Trump, however, canceled his trip to Mar-a-Lago due to the government shutdown. Tang and his wife managed to pose for pictures with Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Trump Grau. Tang told Yahoo that he received admission to the New Year’s party through a package offered by a public relations agency—perhaps Yang’s firm. According to Yahoo, the company Tang used declined to reveal the price of the package, citing the confidentiality of the contract.

The GY US Investments website also posted photos of Yang at a White House celebration of the “Asian New Year” in 2018 and at a Chinese New Year dinner celebration that purportedly included Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Transportation Secretary Chao. The firm says it invited 10 guests to the Chinese New Year event and the website shows several of them posing with Chao. 

According to the website, the company has offices in Miami; Washington, DC; and Wuhan, China, and is preparing to open an office in Beijing. But the address of its office in the Washington area matches the location of a UPS store.  

Yang and her business partners listed on the GY US Investments’ website could not be reached for comment. No one responded to messages left at the number for GY US Investments. A man who answered a phone number listed for Yang hung up. A man who picked up the phone at a number listed for the company’s Washington-area office said, “My English isn’t good,” and hung up. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and Trump Grau did not respond to requests for comment.

The overall message conveyed by the GY US Investments website seems clear: hire Yang’s company and she can get you close to Trump and his government—at Mar-a-Lago and in Washington. If the posted photos are authentic, she has been able to get Chinese clients at least into the Trump circle for a quick pic. They are a sign that this Chinese immigrant and Trump donor has used her contacts to go from massaging clients to massaging influence. 

Update: Yang has been active in Asian American Republican groups. Since 2017, she has participated in the Broward County, Florida Chapter of the Asian GOP, a national Republican group. The chapter’s web page touts the Mar-a-Lago “Safari Night” promoted by Yang’s company – with Trump Grau listed as the host. Yang also visited the White House last year as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Initiative, an advisory group Trump formed by executive order.