This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/us/zhang-mar-a-lago.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Chinese Businesswoman Arrested at Mar-a-Lago: Will She Get Out of Jail? New Revelations in Case of Chinese Businesswoman Arrested at Mar-a-Lago
(about 8 hours later)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Yujing Zhang managed to talk her way into Mar-a-Lago. Can she manage to get out of jail? WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The international finance consultant accused of illegally entering President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida knew several days before she traveled to the United States that the gala she had paid to attend had been canceled, federal prosecutors said on Monday.
Ms. Zhang, 33, is scheduled to face a federal judge Monday afternoon for the third time since she was arrested on March 30 inside President Trump’s gilded waterfront resort. The authorities said she had gained entry on the strength of a dubious party invitation and was carrying a laptop computer, four cellphones and a thumb drive infected with malware in her purse. The judge will consider her request to be released on bail. The disclosure raised new questions about the intentions of the woman, Yujing Zhang, 33, who told the authorities she had come to attend a United Nations Chinese Friendship Association event associated with a gala that night. Instant messages recovered from one of her cellphones revealed that Ms. Zhang had been told even before she left Shanghai that the Mar-a-Lago event had been canceled, Rolando Garcia, an assistant United States attorney, told the court.
The long gray dress she wore to the club has been replaced with the navy blue scrubs worn by female federal inmates, and her cell doubtless bears little resemblance to the $600-a-night boutique hotel where she had been staying in Palm Beach. Ms. Zhang had paid $20,000 and flown 8,000 miles from Shanghai, but her luxury business trip was over after just two days in Florida. Ms. Zhang had texted back, Mr. Garcia said, “wanting to know why the event was canceled.”
Ms. Zhang, a Chinese citizen, was indicted on Friday on charges of lying to a federal agent when she said she was at Mar-a-Lago to use the pool; she had no swimsuit with her. She is also accused of illegally entering a restricted area, even though club employees had escorted her in because her surname — one of the most common in China — was the same as that of a dues-paying member. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman of the Federal District Court in West Palm Beach rejected Ms. Zhang’s bid to be released on bail, concluding that there was a substantial risk she could flee the country if released before her trial on charges of entering restricted property and making false statements to a federal agent.
Prosecutors said that a sweep of Ms. Zhang’s room at the Colony Hotel near the resort turned up a device used to detect hidden cameras, nine jump drives and five SIM cards. She also had about $8,000 in cash. “It does appear to the court that Ms. Zhang was up to something nefarious,” the judge said.
A federal prosecutor, Rolando Garcia, urged the judge in the case last week to keep Ms. Zhang locked up because so much about her was still a mystery, including what level of bail would assure her appearance at trial. “To say that there is incomplete information of her financial assets is an understatement,” Mr. Garcia said. But prosecutors also revealed that they were no longer certain that a thumb drive Ms. Zhang was carrying when she entered the resort on March 30 was infected with “malicious malware,” as they had earlier claimed.
He said the authorities were furiously examining her electronic devices, and that what was known from them so far did not back up her claim that she had gone to Mar-a-Lago for a United Nations Chinese Friendship Association event. No such event appeared on the club calendar, although a related event had been scheduled and then canceled. At a hearing last week, a Secret Service agent testified that when Ms. Zhang’s thumb drive was inserted into an agency computer, it immediately began to install files on the computer. The analysis was quickly halted to “stop the corruption,” the agent, Samuel Ivanovich, told the court.
Mr. Garcia stressed that while Ms. Zhang has not been charged with espionage, her intentions were still murky, he said, and she “lies to everyone that she encounters.” But Mr. Garcia said on Monday that when the agency conducted a deeper analysis of the thumb drive, the device did not repeat what had happened the first time, “which suggests that it could have been a false positive” for the presence of malware.
If the judge in the case, Magistrate Judge William Matthewman, decides to release Ms. Zhang pending trial, she would probably be immediately detained by immigration authorities. She no longer has a legal basis to remain in the country because the State Department has revoked her tourist visa. Defense lawyers said that Ms. Zhang, a Chinese citizen with a degree from Shanghai University, never tried to deceive Secret Service agents and was admitted to the members-only club on a weekend when Mr. Trump and his family were in residence after the club management determined that her surname — one of the most common in China — matched that of a Mar-a-Lago member.
Ms. Zhang’s federal public defender, Robert E. Adler, said he planned to present witnesses on her behalf to tell the court on Monday that they were willing to provide Ms. Zhang with a place to stay while her case winds through the courts. Mr. Adler’s strategy was complicated by the loss of Ms. Zhang’s visa, he said, so to obtain her freedom, he may have to argue the matter twice, first to Judge Matthewman and then to an immigration judge. “The sad fact is that if a Mandarin interpreter had been provided at that first Secret Service checkpoint, we very well would not be here today,” said Kristy Militello, one of Ms. Zhang’s federal public defenders.
“In order to gain entry, the only thing Ms. Zhang did was give a very common Chinese name and make no claims she was there as a member or family member,” Mr. Adler said. “I don’t understand how this would support a trespassing charge after making no misrepresentations.” Judge Matthewman said his decision to deny bail was based in part on the sheer variety of electronics Ms. Zhang carried with her, including a laptop, an external hard drive and four cellphones. A sweep of Ms. Zhang’s room at the Colony Hotel near the resort turned up a device used to detect hidden cameras, nine jump drives and five SIM cards, the authorities said, along with 75 $100 bills.
He said the whole episode was either misunderstanding or a mistake by the Mar-a-Lago staff. “The added fact that she was one to two feet, arm’s length, of a computer at Mar-a-Lago is also extremely concerning,” Judge Matthewman said. “The nature of the crimes and the charges are very serious and very troubling.”
Judge Matthewman said that if Ms. Zhang is convicted of lying to a federal agent, she faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal prosecutors have emphasized that Ms. Zhang is not being charged with espionage.
The false statement charge contained in a grand jury indictment returned on Friday also concerns Ms. Zhang’s statement to a federal agent that she had come to use the pool, though she had no swimsuit with her.
Ms. Zhang, who owns a home and a BMW back in China, had paid for a vacation package that included a banquet at Mar-a-Lago. But the gala she had paid to attend had been canceled when news outlets revealed that the Florida woman who had a role in promoting the event had once owned a massage parlor where the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, was charged with paying for sex acts.
The former owner, Cindy Yang, had sold the parlor and become active in Republican circles in Florida. She bundled donations for Mr. Trump, including some that had the appearance of being illegal donations by straw donors. The event she had been selling tickets to was canceled in the wake of the scandal.
Ms. Zhang lowered her head and glanced at papers in front of her when she heard the news that she was going to be held in jail.
Her lawyers did not stop to speak to reporters after the hearing and did not respond to prosecutors’ assertion that Ms. Zhang had known the event she planned to attend had been canceled.
Last week, though, they emphasized that there was little evidence to support the charges in the indictment.
“In order to gain entry, the only thing Ms. Zhang did was give a very common Chinese name and make no claims she was there as a member or family member,” her lawyer, Robert E. Adler said. “I don’t understand how this would support a trespassing charge after making no misrepresentations.”
Judge Matthewman said that if Ms. Zhang was convicted of lying to a federal agent, she would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.