Washington – A Chinese woman arrested for bluffing
her way into US President Donald Trump's Florida resort,
sparking concerns that she could pose an intelligence threat,
was found guilty on Wednesday of lying to a federal officer and
trespassing, CNN reported.
The woman, 33-year-old Yujing Zhang, made international
headlines in March when she was arrested carrying multiple
electronic devices at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
Baffling behaviour marked Zhang's trial in the US District
Court in Fort Lauderdale from the start. She insisted on acting
as her own lawyer despite US District Judge Roy Altman's
entreaties.
She also delayed the start of jury selection on Monday by
complaining that she did not have the correct underwear she
needed for the trial.
The central question of what precisely Zhang was doing at
the Trump private property remained unanswered, with prosecutors
offering no explanation in court for her motives.
Zhang's
actions at the resort sparked concerns that she might have been
a spy, though she was charged only with trespassing and making
false statements.
Prosecutors focused on trying to prove she used deception to
gain unlawful access to private property.
Zhang insisted she was entitled to admission to Mar-a-Lago
by way of a contract for which she had paid $20 000 to attend a
US-China economic development event at the resort.
"I did nothing wrong," she told jurors in halting English in
her closing argument. "I did not lie."
Assistant US Attorney Rolando Garcia countered that Zhang
had been notified in advance that the event she had planned to
attend had been cancelled and that she had demanded her money
back.
Garcia also detailed how Zhang allegedly hoodwinked US Secret Service agents to get past resort security checkpoints
and onto the property, in part by passing herself off as the
relative of an actual club member of the same name.
"She knew she wasn't supposed to be there," Garcia said.
At the time of her arrest, Zhang had four cellphones, a
laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive later
found to contain "malicious malware" in her possession, the
Secret Service said in a court filing.
A search of Zhang's Palm Beach hotel room reportedly
uncovered a device meant to detect hidden cameras and nearly
$8 000 in cash.
Some US experts say her attempt to enter the club was so
clumsy that while she has been linked to the Chinese Communist
Party in Beijing, it is hard to believe she was a professional
spy.
Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had "not heard" anything about
Zhang having any connection with the Chinese government.
Zhang faces up to six years in federal prison when she is
sentenced at a later date.