Feds Subpoena Mar-a-Lago, Trump Campaign in Cindy Yang Massage Parlor Probe - Vanity Fair

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President Donald Trump's campaign and “winter White House” are getting pulled into the ongoing saga of massage parlor entrepreneur Li “Cindy” Yang, the Florida GOP donor who's come under scrutiny for peddling access—and possibly foreign campaign donations—to Trump. Less than two weeks after it was reported that federal prosecutors were investigating Yang for possible campaign finance violations, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday that subpoenas have been issued to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and Trump Victory, a political action committee raising funds for Trump and the Republican National Committee. Both organizations have been asked to turn over all records related to Yang, along with those of some of her associates and companies, as the federal authorities investigate whether Yang illegally funneled foreign money into Trump's campaign. Neither are said to be targets of the investigation.


After first entering the public consciousness through her former association with the Florida day spa where Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution, Yang has quickly become known for her efforts to connect wealthy Chinese nationals with Trump. The businesswoman's consulting company G.Y. U.S. Investments has openly promised access to the president and his associates at Mar-a-Lago events, including fundraisers. Should Yang's wealthy foreign clients have paid for their entry to any campaign fundraising events, the payments would likely be considered illegal foreign donations to Trump's campaign. And those donations could be coming from high places. Yang is a member of several groups with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and Beijing government, including the Florida Association for China Unification, which is under the oversight of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, and the China Association for Science and Technology. That group is “explicitly designed to facilitate cooperation with the Chinese government,” Chinese intelligence expert James Mulvenon told the New York Times.


Yang has also raised suspicion through a series of $5,400 donations to Trump made by her low-level spa staff members, many of whom were named in the subpoenas. One staffer, former receptionist Bing Bing Peranio, was previously subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for information regarding her $5,400 donation to Trump victory, which was made shortly before a March 2018 R.N.C. event at Mar-a-Lago where Yang was photographed with Trump—a perk that goes for $50,000. Peranio has refused to tell reporters whether her donation was subsequently reimbursed, though the 25-year-old told the New York Times about Yang asking her to make a donation, “I can’t say she was pushing me or not pushing me, but . . . I didn’t say no.” (Yang, for her part, has adamantly denied any wrongdoing, and has sued the Miami Herald for their reporting. The R.N.C. has also denied any impropriety, telling the Times, “We only accept donations in accordance with the law. If we do see any evidence of illegal contributions, we report it to the proper authorities. If we were notified by the authorities that a donation were illegal, we would return the money.”)

Though the Trump camp isn't directly targeted in the investigation, the continuing probe into Yang's businesses and campaign donations only heightens the specter of foreign assistance that hangs over Trump's 2016 victory, from the Russian election interference to the foreign donations made to the president's inauguration fund. And Yang's money-making venture may be just the tip of the iceberg, as federal investigators explore the broader “Trump tourism” industry and potential links between Chinese intelligence and the president's pay-to-play private club. “The president of the United States is literally the world’s number one intelligence target,“ David Kris, an Obama-era assistant attorney general for national security, told the Herald in April. “If you can get close to him for a small fee, I’m sure our adversaries would like to take advantage of that.”

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