Stringer/Reuters
Yujing Zhang, the Chinese woman who was arrested for allegedly attempting to breach Mar-a-Lago with malware-infected thumb drives, paid former day spa owner Li “Cindy” Yang’s company about $20,000 in February to attend an event at the Florida resort, her lawyer said. According to The Miami Herald, Zhang’s defense attorney presented a wire transfer receipt that showed Zhang paid a Beijing-based company 135,000 yuan earlier this year. The Chinese company is reportedly the same one Yang used to collect payments from her foreign clients to attend Mar-a-Lago events. The receipt reportedly backs up Zhang’s defense’s claim that she did not lie to federal agents about why she was attempting to get into Mar-a-Lago. Her lawyer said she was really there to attend an event after she was invited by a friend named “Charles.” A man named Charles Lee is reportedly an associate of Yang’s, and they’ve both been accused of selling access to Mar-a-Lago events to Chinese clients.
This comes after a federal agent running an analysis of one of Zhang’s thumb drives reportedly found that it started installing files on his computer. Investigators also reportedly discovered more thumb drives, SIM cards, and cash in Zhang’s hotel room.