O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Ill., on March 15, 2024.Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
A Chinese national studying at an Ontario university has entered a not-guilty plea in a U.S. federal court on a charge tied to what a prosecutor described as “espionage-type activities.”
University of Waterloo student Weiheng (Billy) Zeng was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Nov. 9 after being charged this summer with lying to American officials about photographs he took at a Chicago airport cargo facility, according to public records obtained by CBC News.
Court documents indicate that U.S. federal agents questioned Zeng on Aug. 23 as he tried to enter Michigan after crossing the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.
He has been in custody since, and a bond hearing is scheduled for next week.
A federal grand jury indicted Zeng last week on a single charge of making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
Prosecutor Alyse Wu said the allegations amount to “espionage-type activities.”
Photos at Airports
Zeng first came under suspicion in April, following an incident recorded on security video at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport, according to the FBI’s criminal complaint.
FBI Special Agent Robert Holbrook said in a court-filed sworn affidavit that FedEx employees at the time saw a man photographing the area, climbing onto a forklift, and trying to open a locked delivery truck and shipping container in the company’s parking lot at Chicago’s airport.
When trying to cross back into the United States in August, Zeng gave U.S. officials conflicting accounts of his reasons for trespassing and taking pictures.
He underwent three interviews with U.S. security officials, revising his account of the April trip each time, according to court documents.
Authorities said Zeng initially claimed he had visited tourist attractions during his April trip, describing the plane photos on his phone as “pictures of model aircraft being tracked for a flight radar website.” When questioned again, he allegedly acknowledged going to the FedEx facility to take photos of planes and said he had also trespassed at a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2025.
Holbrook’s affidavit said Zeng acknowledged during the third interview that he had accepted paid “taskings” from someone he believed had ties to the Chinese government. He was asked for pictures of “specific planes and their tail numbers” and was paid $20 to $30 per photograph, according to court documents.
Zeng told FBI investigators that the Chinese contact asked him to travel to Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles to photograph specific areas around airports. Zeng said he had refused, but still carried out “two taskings” and was paid a total of 500 yuan—roughly $74—for photographs he took at the Toronto and Chicago airports.
Zeng’s Detroit-based lawyer, William Swor, has declined to comment on the case.
Frank Fang contributed to this report.
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