Follow-Up: CBS Identifies 'Individual 1' in the Zhang Wanying Case as Irvine Builder Fatai Miao, Whose Home Was Searched by the FBI
A CBS News investigation has identified the traveling companion described in federal court filings only as 'Individual 1' in the case of Irvine, Orange County, real estate agent Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather Zhang, as Fatai Miao, a 54-year-old Chinese-born California construction entrepreneur. CBS said the identification was confirmed through federal documents, law enforcement sources and interviews with Miao's family and neighbors.
The complaint alleges that Zhang and 'Individual 1' flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on September 1, 2025, rented a black Nissan Rogue and drove to the suburban Seattle home of Lai Ting-yu, the son of Taiwan's leader Lai Ching-te, filming him as he returned home with his wife and child and capturing license plate numbers, which were sent to Chinese government officials. Zhang was arrested by the FBI at Los Angeles International Airport on October 4 as she prepared to board a flight to Shanghai, and was later indicted by a federal grand jury, as GSM has previously reported.
CBS reported that around noon on October 4, the day of Zhang's arrest, about 10 federal agents serving a search warrant used a battering ram to break into Miao's empty home in Irvine; neighbors described the search to CBS. At an October 7 bond hearing, prosecutors said Miao had taken a one-way flight to China about two weeks earlier. The Justice Department has not accused Miao of any wrongdoing.
Miao's U.S.-resident son told CBS by phone that his father had gone to China to look after his wife, who had traveled there for treatment for her back; a relative described Miao as a follower who would not take part in sophisticated government activity.
CBS further reported that Zhang and Miao have links to individuals named in federal court filings involving the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate that the U.S. government says ran online scams targeting Americans, worth at least $15 billion, using forced-labor camps. CBS said Zhang had posed for a photo in a Bugatti belonging to Chen Sokly, described by the Justice Department as a Prince Group enforcer, and that Miao is the registered agent and organizer of an Irvine construction and development company. Investigators have not publicly established that Zhang participated in the alleged scam network; Zhang is charged only and presumed innocent, and Miao has not been charged. (GSM, based on reporting by CBS News)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：洛杉矶国际机场（LAX）Tom Bradley 国际航站楼夜景（资料图），张婉莹10月4日在此被捕。照片：Prayitno 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport at night (file photo), where Zhang was arrested on October 4. Photo: Prayitno, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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