The Chinese woman accused of sneaking into Mar-a-Lago was fixated on the Trump family and believed she was going to meet Ivanka at the president’s posh Florida club, according to a report.
Self-described businesswoman Yujing Zhang was drawn to the first family because of its prominence in the real estate world and was interested in real estate opportunities in New York and Miami, The Miami Herald and South China Morning Post reported Friday.
The 33-year-old from Shanghai reportedly paid $20,000 for a travel package that included a ticket to a March 30 benefit at the president’s Palm Beach resort, that was to feature a guest appearance by Trump’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau.
Zhang was busted that day after she allegedly lied to a Secret Service agent to gain entrance to the swank club — even though she’d known the charity event had been cancelled, according to the Herald.
Suspicion that she was working as a spy arose when federal agents allegedly found a trove of electronics on Zhang and back at her hotel as well as $8,000 in cash. Zhang hasn’t been charged with espionage, although prosecutors have filed evidence under seal that they say has national security implications.
Sources told the papers Zhang was under the impression she’d be able to meet Ivanka Trump at the gala — even though the president’s daughter wasn’t slated to attend.
She also reportedly thought going to the event would help her reach her goal of making millions of dollars.
Charles Lee, who organized the cancelled benefit, said he’d previously offered Zhang a tour package to meet Bill and Hillary Clinton, but she declined because she apparently wasn’t interested in former presidents.
Before her arrest, Zhang, a 2008 graduate of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, had worked for the mutual fund AIG-Huatai, now known as Huatai-Pinebridge, the report found.
But there has been little public information about what she has been up to since early 2013, around the time her mother died. In recent years, Zhang traveled to the US multiple times, including a December 2017 trip to visit tech companies in Silicon Valley and Boston on an organized tour.
She told a Florida court that she was working as a consultant for a Shanghai-based asset management company. According to the report, the company she was referring to is owned by her father, Xuefeng Zhang, who didn’t respond to calls from the outlets.
Jury selection in her trial on Monday was briefly interrupted when Zhang — who is representing herself — showed up to federal court in Fort Lauderdale in brown prison duds — because she apparently didn’t have any underwear.
During opening statements, prosecutors portrayed Zhang as a conniving interloper who staked out the private club and repeatedly lied to gain entry.
“She provided false information to multiple people to get on the property,” including that she wanted to use a club pool, that she was there to attend the cancelled-event and that she believed she was related to a club member, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin.
When surrounded by agents, Zhang was “extremely cool, calm and collected,” Sherwin said.
“She wasn’t nervous and rattled. She was stoic.”
In response, Zhang said: “I don’t believe I did anything wrong and that’s all I want to say and USA thank you.”
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