Yujing Zhang, 33, told authorities she had come to the South Florida resort at the invitation of a Chinese group that was advertising opportunities to attend social events and rub elbows with political celebrities — a business campaign that has raised questions about security at the exclusive private resort where Trump and his family are often in residence.
The trove of curious electronics Zhang was caught with — including a thumb drive infected with malware, four cellphones and, back at her hotel, a signal detector used to find hidden cameras — prompted suspicions, authorities said.
The grand jury indictment handed down Friday did not add any espionage charges, but instead contained one count of lying to a federal agent, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, and one of accessing a restricted area, punishable by a year in prison.
When she arrived shortly after noon on March 30, Zhang initially said she wanted to use the swimming pool, federal prosecutors said. Her surname matched that of a member of the club, so security officers escorted her in.
But once she was inside the club and was questioned more closely, prosecutors said, Zhang changed her story. She said she was there for a “United Nations Chinese Friendship Association” event, which did not appear on the club’s calendar.
Secret Service agents detained her, and at that point discovered the electronics gear she was carrying. She was charged with lying to federal agents as a result of her earlier statement about wanting to use the swimming pool — a search revealed that she had no swimsuit in her bag.
“I don’t understand how this would support a trespassing charge after making no misrepresentations,” her lawyer, Robert E. Adler, said at a hearing Monday.
Adler said federal authorities showed no evidence that Zhang was spying.
The prosecutor, Rolando Garcia, stressed Monday that Zhang had not been accused of espionage. But he told the court that the electronics and $8,000 in cash in Zhang’s hotel room suggested that she had come to Palm Beach for more than a party.
A search of her hotel room a few miles away from Mar-a-Lago uncovered a device that detects hidden cameras, as well as nine jump drives and five SIM cards, Garcia said.
Zhang’s arrest underscored the weaknesses in security at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump spends many weekends. Even before Trump owned it, the resort had decades before been offered to the federal government for use as a “Winter White House,” an offer rejected by authorities at the time because it was too difficult to secure.
Coast Guard boats now regularly patrol the waters just outside, but because it is a for-profit resort with banquet facilities, those who purchase tickets to events have easy access. The Secret Service said the decision to admit Zhang had been made by club management.
Zhang showed a receipt for a payment of $20,000 to the Beijing Peace Friendship Management Consulting Co., a Beijing-based company operated by Charles Lee, who appeared to offer clients in China a chance to attend events in Florida and have their photos taken with prominent figures. The event she had purportedly paid to attend had indeed been scheduled, but had been canceled weeks before when it was revealed that another Chinese businesswoman in Florida associated with the event, Cindy Yang, had once owned a massage parlor caught up in an illegal sex-for-hire investigation.
Yang denies wrongdoing and insists that she does not know who Zhang is.
Zhang is expected in federal court for a bond hearing Monday.