Los Angeles International Airport

The FBI arrested Wanying "Heather" Zhang, 34, a real estate agent from Irvine, California, at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to board a flight to China. Federal prosecutors allege she worked as an unregistered agent for Beijing, surveilling the family of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. According to a federal affidavit, Zhang and an associate traveled to the Seattle area in September 2025 to monitor the home of Lai's son, Ting-Yu Lai, an engineer, photographing and filming the family and relaying license plate information to Chinese officials.

Taiwan's presidential office called the case "a classic case of transnational repression." Zhang, a naturalized U.S. citizen who reportedly attended a Beijing university with ties to China's intelligence services, was due in federal court in Los Angeles. The arrest follows a string of recent Justice Department prosecutions targeting alleged covert Chinese agents in the U.S., including a Southern California mayor who pleaded guilty earlier this year to similar charges.

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts is facing calls to resign after being accused of groping a teenage cheerleader while posing for a photo at a city hall community event this week. His office has denied any misconduct, but the incident has renewed scrutiny of a long history of allegations against him that have never resulted in criminal charges or removal from office.

Past claims include a 1993 criminal referral, later dropped for insufficient evidence, alleging he molested his young daughter and choked his then-wife unconscious, which Butts denied. A 2021 wrongful termination lawsuit from a former executive assistant, with whom he had a relationship, alleged workplace sexual demands and stalking after the relationship ended; the case was later dismissed on procedural grounds. He also faced scrutiny over a 2012 contract awarded to a company that had hired his brother, and a retaliation dispute with the city's former treasurer that reached the California Supreme Court, which sided with the city. Butts has not directly addressed the latest allegation.