Chinese woman convicted of trespassing at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort faces up to 6 years in prison

Kristin Lam | USA TODAY

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A Chinese woman convicted of trespassing at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort who was apprehended with a thumb drive infected with malware is expected to receive a prison sentence on Monday.

Yujing Zhang could face up to six years for unlawfully entering the Palm Beach, Florida, club in March and lying to Secret Service agents who confronted her.

Authorities did not charge Zhang with espionage, but her arrest prompted an investigation into potential intelligence vulnerabilities at the resort Trump has called his "Winter White House." Although Trump was visiting Mar-a-Lago on the weekend she passed a security checkpoint, he was playing golf at a nearby course at the time of her arrival.

Zhang has been jailed since federal agents arrested her after finding two passports, four cellphones and a laptop on her person in addition to the infected thumb drive. Authorities found more cash and electronics in her hotel, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Mar-a-Lago managers let her into the club because they thought she might be the daughter of a member with the same last name, according to the complaint. During her trial, Agent Krystle Kerr testified that Zhang said she was there to visit the pool, despite not carrying a swimsuit. She later told a receptionist she was there for a United Nations event, but the woman knew no such event was scheduled and alerted the Secret Service.

Then, Zhang told Agent Sam Ivanovich she was there for a Chinese-American event, Ivanovich testified. After a search, Ivanovich said Zhang lied again, saying she never told Kerr she was there to visit the pool.

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Prosecutors requested that U.S. District Judge Roy Altman hand down an 18-month prison sentence to Zhang, a 33-year-old Shanghai consultant. She acted as her own attorney during a trial two months ago and has not filed anything regarding sentencing.

Text messages outlined at her trial and posted to her court file after her conviction suggest she is obsessed with wealth and had hoped to meet the president or his family to discuss possible business deals, along with other U.S. executives.

Zhang's arrest came at a time when Chinese entrepreneurs in South Florida had launched consulting businesses offering to sell Chinese clients access to Trump and his family members.

GY US Investments LLC's website, for example, claimed clients could “have the opportunity to interact with the president” and other “political figures."

It's 'Trump Season': Trump’s Mar-a-Lago is an oasis of support, fundraising as 2020 election, impeachment loom

House and Senate Democrats asked the Governmental Accountability Office to study Mar-a-Lago security after Trump discussed national security matters – in front of club guests – with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February 2017. A club member posted pictures of Trump and Abe discussing a North Korean missile launch and looking at documents at a table on the dining terrace.

The Secret Service has said there is no system for keeping track of Mar-a-Lago guests, including those who speak to Trump.

Contributing: Ali Schmitz, Treasure Coast Newspapers; Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press