Authorities: Mar-a-Lago infiltrator’s malware was sophisticated


Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

A Chinese woman recently arrested at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club lied repeatedly to Secret Service agents while carrying computer malware unlike anything a government analyst had ever seen and had more than $8,000 in cash at her hotel room, along with an electronic device that detects hidden cameras, federal authorities told a judge Monday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia told Magistrate Judge William Matthewman during a bond hearing that “there are a lot of questions that remain” about 32-year-old Yujing Zhang

He said the FBI is still investigating whether Zhang is a spy.

Zhang was arrested March 30 after Secret Service agents said she lied to gain admission to the president’s Palm Beach resort and was found to be carrying two Chinese passports, four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive containing the malware.

Matthewman adjourned the hearing until next Monday as Zhang’s public defender said he’s still gathering evidence that could justify her release on bail on charges of lying to federal agents and illegal entry to a restricted area. Garcia said he expects Zhang will be indicted by a federal grand jury this week on those charges.

He said Zhang would be a “serious risk of flight” if she were released while awaiting trial, as she has no ties to the United States. The State Department revoked her visa last week, he said, so even if released on bond, she would be detained by immigration officials. She arrived in the U.S. on a flight from Shanghai to Newark, N.J., two days before her arrest.

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