‘Not a wandering tourist’: Mar-a-Lago intruder Zhang Yujing found guilty of trespass and lying to Secret Services by Florida jury
- The 10-woman, two-man federal jury reached the verdict on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale
- The 33-year-old Shanghai business consultant faces up to six years in prison
A Chinese businesswoman was found guilty Wednesday of trespassing at Mar-a-Lago and lying to a federal agent about why she was at President Donald Trump’s private Palm Beach club, capping a bizarre federal trial where the enigmatic defendant’s true purpose in coming to the resort was never answered.
Was Yujing Zhang, 33, just a bumbling tourist or an agent of Beijing’s government? One thing is certain: Zhang, who has been in federal custody since her arrest March 30, now faces up to one year in prison on the trespassing charge and five years on the false-statement offence. She showed no reaction to the verdict.
The 12-member jury deliberated for 4½ hours after a two-day trial in which federal prosecutors accused Zhang of being so bent on entering the posh club to meet Trump that she lied to Secret Service agents and Mar-a-Lago staff, telling them she wanted to attend a gala event she knew had been cancelled before she left China. The text messages on her iPhone 7 showed that Zhang not only learned the Mar-a-Lago event was cancelled, but also that she asked the trip organiser for a refund, according to trial evidence.
“She said she was there for a United Nations friendship event. Well, that was a clear lie,” Assistant US Attorney Rolando Garcia told the jurors during closing arguments Tuesday. “She was bound and determined to get on that property. … She lied to everybody to get on that property.”
Zhang, who did not put on a defence, did declare her innocence during closing arguments, saying she had a contract to attend a United Nations friendship event between the United States and China at the Mar-a-Lago club. “I do think I did nothing wrong,” said Zhang, speaking in English. “I did no lying.”