https://www.scmp.com/rss/500500/feed Cindy Yang, also known as Li Yang, is a Chinese-American businesswoman and Republican Party fundraiser who started a chain of massage parlours in Florida. She hit the headlines in 2019 after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with paying for sex at a parlour Yang formerly owned. She was subsequently accused of selling Chinese clients access to US President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians. Her lawyer has denied the claim, and the White House has said Trump does not... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A Chinese businesswoman convicted of trespassing at former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and lying to Secret Service agents was deported over the weekend, federal authorities said, more than two years after serving her sentence. Zhang Yujing was turned over to immigration officials in December 2019 after serving her eight-month sentence. But she was held at the Glades County Detention Centre for three times as long as her prison term mainly because of deportation delays during the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3156045/donald-trumps-mar-lago-trespasser-deported-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3156045/donald-trumps-mar-lago-trespasser-deported-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Nov 2021 22:54:29 +0000 Florida prosecutors dropped a misdemeanour charge against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Thursday after courts blocked their use of video that allegedly shows him paying for massage parlour sex. Palm Beach County court records show that the charge was dropped on Thursday. Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg will explain the decision during an online press conference later in the day. Court records show that the owner and manager of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa are still facing... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3102957/new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-cleared?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3102957/new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-cleared?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Sep 2020 21:03:49 +0000 The Chinese woman arrested in March trying to enter Mar-a-Lago with a trove of electronics appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale briefly on Tuesday, where a judge accused her of being intentionally difficult when she refused to answer his questions out loud. “The defendant has decided that she wants to play games with the court,” said US District Judge Roy Altman. On several occasions Altman was forced to describe Zhang Yujing’s nods or smiles into the record when she refused to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3022677/chinese-mar-lago-intruder-zhang-yujing-playing-games-court-us-judge-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3022677/chinese-mar-lago-intruder-zhang-yujing-playing-games-court-us-judge-says?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Aug 2019 20:35:22 +0000 The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlour entrepreneur Li “Cindy” Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funnelled money from China into the president’s re-election effort or committed other potential campaign-finance violations, The Miami Herald reports. Investigators obtained a federal grand jury subpoena on Tuesday seeking records from Bing Bing Peranio, an employee of Yang’s family’s spa business who last year contributed a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3009644/fbi-opens-foreign-money-investigation-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3009644/fbi-opens-foreign-money-investigation-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 May 2019 03:53:24 +0000 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers asked a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favours for money inside a Florida massage parlour. “We think the whole warrant is unlawful,” defence attorney Jack Goldberger told Judge Leonard Hanser in Palm Beach County court. Prosecutors, however, said Kraft cannot challenge the video’s legality because he could not have had any expectation of privacy in the first... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3007900/lawyer-billionaire-new-england-patriots-owner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3007900/lawyer-billionaire-new-england-patriots-owner?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Apr 2019 15:08:16 +0000 Over a bowl of grits in a South Florida cafe, a short drive from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort – the epicentre of media scrutiny into influence peddling campaigns targeting the US president – Cliff Zhonggang Li gave a lesson in ancient Chinese history. He told the story of Yue Fei, a storied general of the Southern Song dynasty, who was executed in 1142 on the orders of a corrupt minister despite having led a successful military campaign against invading northern armies. In the 900 years... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3007397/asian-american-conservatives-feeling-sting-cindy-yang-affair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3007397/asian-american-conservatives-feeling-sting-cindy-yang-affair?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Apr 2019 19:58:13 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Alex Finley on politico.com on April 20, 2019. What was a Chinese woman doing at Mar-a-Lago with her pockets full of passports and cellphones? The March 30 arrest of Chinese national Zhang Yujing at US President Donald Trump’s vacation home certainly reads like a juicy spy drama. At the time she was arrested, after changing her story about why she was there, she had on her, in addition to two Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3007222/what-was-zhang-yujing-chinese-woman-arrested-mar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3007222/what-was-zhang-yujing-chinese-woman-arrested-mar?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2019 16:51:40 +0000 The Chinese woman accused of lying her way into US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was denied bail on Monday in a south Florida federal court. Zhang Yujing, 33, was charged with lying to federal officers and gaining access to a restricted area after she entered Mar-a-Lago on March 30, having told Secret Service agents she was there to use the pool, before telling reception staff she was there to attend a function and mingle with members of the Trump family, according to a criminal... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3006296/chinese-woman-charged-security-breach-mar-lago?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3006296/chinese-woman-charged-security-breach-mar-lago?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Apr 2019 18:13:49 +0000 A Chinese woman detained at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was indicted by a federal grand jury in Palm Beach County on charges of unlawful entry and making false statements. Zhang Yujing was caught at the resort with four mobile phones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive containing suspected malware. Trump was golfing nearby when Zhang was taken into custody. Nothing in the indictment refers to possible espionage, which is in line with remarks... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005997/chinese-woman-detained-mar-lago-zhang-yujing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005997/chinese-woman-detained-mar-lago-zhang-yujing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2019 20:09:12 +0000 Seventy-five US hundred-dollar bills, a device for detecting secret surveillance equipment and five SIM cards: the mystery surrounding Mar-a-Lago intruder Zhang Yujing deepened on Monday after US prosecutors in Florida laid out the inventory of items found in the Chinese woman’s possession. Yet an equally puzzling and, according to national security analysts, potentially troubling picture is beginning to emerge about the man who advertised the event that Zhang said she was at US President Donald... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3005467/who-charles-lee-businessman-linked-woman-who-breached-mar-lago?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3005467/who-charles-lee-businessman-linked-woman-who-breached-mar-lago?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:45:10 +0000 The Chinese woman who managed to bypass layers of security at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida will spend at least another week in custody, a federal magistrate ruled on Monday. Zhang Yujing was arrested on March 30 by the US Secret Service after she got as far as the reception area of the club, which stays open for its members and their guests when the president is there. The incident has amplified concerns that the Palm Beach resort where Trump and his advisers spend so... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005292/chinese-mar-lago-intruder-zhang-yujing-had-device?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005292/chinese-mar-lago-intruder-zhang-yujing-had-device?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Apr 2019 20:24:14 +0000 Zhang Yujing, the Chinese woman arrested on Saturday after allegedly trying to take an unusual number of electronic devices into US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, identified herself at a court hearing earlier this week as an investor and a consultant for a Shanghai private-equity business who appears to have amassed considerable wealth. Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Zhang told a magistrate judge that she owns a US$1.3 million house in China and drives a BMW, according to an... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004768/extreme-flight-risk-zhang-yujing-chinese-woman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004768/extreme-flight-risk-zhang-yujing-chinese-woman?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:53:11 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Wednesday shrugged off a security breach at his Florida resort last weekend – when a woman gained access after allegedly lying to Secret Service agents – as a “fluke”. Trump’s comment followed calls from senior congressional Democrats for the FBI to review security risks at the Mar-a-Lago resort, the private club in Palm Beach on the south Florida coast where the president frequently spends his weekends. On Saturday, Zhang Yujing, a Chinese national, entered the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004753/nothing-see-here-trump-dismisses-mar-lago-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004753/nothing-see-here-trump-dismisses-mar-lago-security?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:55:29 +0000 A criminal case against a Chinese woman accused of gaining unlawful access to US President Donald Trump’s Florida resort has, for the second time in recent weeks, trained the spotlight on an organisation selling clients access to prominent politicians around the world. According to a criminal complaint, Zhang Yujing told Secret Service agents guarding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Saturday that she was visiting the resort to use the pool, then later told reception staff that she was there to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3004574/chinese-firm-offering-sell-access-donald-trump-comes-spotlight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3004574/chinese-firm-offering-sell-access-donald-trump-comes-spotlight?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:47:26 +0000 A Chinese woman carrying a thumb drive loaded with malware was detained at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after possibly trying to gain access to events advertised on Chinese-language social media by Cindy Yang, the South Florida massage parlour entrepreneur who also ran a business selling access to the US president and his family. The woman, Zhang Yujing, has been charged with two federal crimes: making false statements to a federal officer and entering restricted property. She was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004390/chinese-woman-zhang-yujing-charged-illegally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004390/chinese-woman-zhang-yujing-charged-illegally?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Apr 2019 20:21:57 +0000 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has broken his silence for the first time since he was charged with two misdemeanour counts of soliciting another to commit prostitution in Florida. “I am truly sorry,” Kraft said in a statement. “I know I have hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans and many others who rightfully hold me to a higher standard.” Kraft, the billionaire businessman whose Patriots won the Super Bowl last month and who is one of the most... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3003020/new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-breaks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3003020/new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft-breaks?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Mar 2019 21:47:29 +0000 The Chinese entrepreneur accused of selling access to US government officials, including President Donald Trump, has broken her silence to defend herself. Cindy Yang spoke out as top Democrats called for an FBI investigation into the potential national security threats posed by her business practices. In a number of television appearances on Wednesday, Yang, who was identified earlier this month as the former owner of a day spa allegedly offering sexual services, denied that she had any private... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3002764/cindy-yang-ex-spa-owner-accused-selling-access-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3002764/cindy-yang-ex-spa-owner-accused-selling-access-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Mar 2019 22:06:16 +0000 The attorneys representing New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other men charged in a Florida massage parlour prostitution investigation are asking a judge to block the release of video recordings police say shows them engaging in sexual acts. They also say the prosecutors’ conditions for the men entering a diversion programme in exchange for dropping misdemeanour charges of soliciting prostitution are too harsh. Attorneys for Kraft and 14 of the other 24 men charged said in court... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3002763/billionaire-new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3002763/billionaire-new-england-patriots-owner-robert-kraft?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Mar 2019 21:57:44 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Kyle Cheney on politico.com on March 18, 2019. A former massage parlour owner who reportedly arranged in a separate business access for clients to US President Donald Trump should be investigated as a potential counter-intelligence threat, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday. The Democratic leaders endorsed the probe into Li “Cindy” Yang following a similar... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3002251/democrats-seek-probe-ex-massage-parlour-owner-cindy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3002251/democrats-seek-probe-ex-massage-parlour-owner-cindy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:00:11 +0000 When South Florida day spa entrepreneur Cindy Yang started volunteering as a fundraiser for an Asian-American GOP political group, she was a whizz-bang event organiser with an entrepreneurial gift for making connections. But Yang, a political novice, seemed to have a tenuous grasp of laws that prevent foreign money from entering US elections, said Cliff Li, executive director of the National Committee of Asian American Republicans. He said a “messy” New York fundraiser for President Donald Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3001775/cindy-yang-republican-operative-linked-florida-sex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3001775/cindy-yang-republican-operative-linked-florida-sex?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Mar 2019 23:50:29 +0000 Reports on Cindy Yang, the founder of a recently raided Florida massage parlour that allegedly offered sexual services, have turned the spotlight on social media pictures of her with US President Donald Trump and his family members. Yang, who emigrated from China to the US, reportedly set up a company in 2017 to sell Chinese clients access to the US president and prominent Republican politicians. Could Yang be another Maria Butina (a Russian woman charged in a US court with trying to influence... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/3001265/cindy-yang-scandal-when-chinese-businessmen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/3001265/cindy-yang-scandal-when-chinese-businessmen?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Mar 2019 19:00:12 +0000 An Asian-American Republican group has dismissed from its staff Cindy Yang, who came under scrutiny after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft allegedly solicited a prostitute at an establishment she formerly owned, and for her apparent business selling access to members of the US administration for Chinese clients. The National Committee of Asian American Republicans fired 45-year-old Yang, who also goes by the names Yang Li and Yang Lijuan, on Friday following a report by the Miami Herald... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2189613/republican-group-steps-away-cindy-yang-spa-owner-and-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2189613/republican-group-steps-away-cindy-yang-spa-owner-and-political?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Mar 2019 19:07:10 +0000 A day spa that led to prostitution charges against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. A business consulting firm offering foreign companies access to US President Donald Trump. One person helped found both: Li Yang, better known as Cindy Yang. Almost overnight, the China-born entrepreneur went from unknown Florida resident to the centre of attention with questions mounting about her businesses and political ties. The story seems to be only getting weirder all centred in a state known for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2189400/who-cindy-yang-china-born-founder-florida-spa-busted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2189400/who-cindy-yang-china-born-founder-florida-spa-busted?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Mar 2019 08:28:05 +0000 The founder of a Florida day spa where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitution watched this year’s Super Bowl at a party hosted by US President Donald Trump and has also visited Trump’s White House. Cindy Li Yang, 45, snapped a selfie photo with Trump from the Super Bowl watch party, held at the president’s West Palm Beach country club on February 3, The Miami Herald reported on Friday. Trump, a long-time friend of Kraft and Patriots admirer,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2189303/china-born-cindy-li-yang-founder-florida-spa-linked?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2189303/china-born-cindy-li-yang-founder-florida-spa-linked?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Mar 2019 21:06:00 +0000 Society’s ethical compass has a way of shifting fault lines on major issues. Take the war on drugs. A decade ago, popular opinion was that stern enforcement was the answer. Most people were vehemently against legalisation and even decriminalisation of any type of illegal substance, including marijuana. Fast forward to 2019 and a sea change has taken place. The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) last October urged the United Nations to seriously rethink its strategy on drugs, saying the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2188010/robert-kraft-arrest-should-prostitution-be-legal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2188010/robert-kraft-arrest-should-prostitution-be-legal?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Mar 2019 06:33:39 +0000 In the drab, cookie-cutter world of Florida strip mall storefronts, there was little about the five Asian-themed spas lining Federal Highway in northern Palm Beach and southern Martin counties that screamed “hub of human trafficking.” Yet, more than a dozen witnesses to the daily routine in the suburban shopping centres said they knew something was off about the parlours long before last week’s police raids, part of a sex trafficking and prostitution sting that nabbed New England Patriots owner... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2188327/florida-sex-spas-chinese-human-trafficking-rings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2188327/florida-sex-spas-chinese-human-trafficking-rings?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Mar 2019 21:31:19 +0000 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft visited a Florida massage parlour for sex acts the night before and the morning of last month’s AFC championship game, authorities said on Monday in documents charging him with two misdemeanour counts of soliciting prostitution. Kraft is one of hundreds of men charged in recent days as part of a crackdown on prostitution allegedly occurring in massage parlours between Palm Beach and Orlando. Ten spas have been closed and several people, most of them women... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2187688/robert-kraft-affidavit-patriots-owner-visited-orchids-asia-spa-sex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2187688/robert-kraft-affidavit-patriots-owner-visited-orchids-asia-spa-sex?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Feb 2019 03:27:20 +0000 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft faces misdemeanour charges of soliciting prostitutes after he was twice videotaped receiving a sex act at a Florida massage parlour, police said Friday in a case that could get him in trouble with the NFL. The 77-year-old billionaire Kraft denied any wrongdoing. He was not immediately arrested. Jupiter police said a warrant will be issued and his lawyers will be notified. They said details about the charges against the owner of the Super Bowl champion... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2187386/robert-kraft-billionaire-owner-nfls-new-england?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2187386/robert-kraft-billionaire-owner-nfls-new-england?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Feb 2019 21:38:04 +0000