A federal grand jury in South Florida subpoenaed Mar-a-Lago this week for information about a massage parlor mogul who allegedly peddled access to President Trump, the Miami Herald reports.
The subpoena reportedly asks for documents, communications, and other records relating to Cindy Yang, who surfaced in March after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was indicted in a prostitution sting. Yang founded the South Florida massage parlor that Kraft was accused of attending, and was later alleged in news reports to have been selling access to Mar-a-Lago – and the GOP bigwigs within – to wealthy Chinese.
The subpoena also reportedly seeks information about 11 other people, seven companies, and a non-profit linked to Yang.
The report says that the subpoena was issued by a federal grand jury in West Palm Beach, which is under the purview of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
A Yang spokeswoman told TPM that she had no knowledge of the subpoena, and that the law firm representing Yang had not been contacted by prosecutors.
The Herald reports that an unnamed Washington D.C. law firm received a second subpoena destined for Trump Victory, a fundraising group for the President’s re-election campaign.
The report states that both subpoenas emanate from one investigation, conducted by the FBI and the Justice Department’s public integrity section into potential foreign-sourced campaign contributions. However, it’s unclear from the report whether the Trump Victory subpoena came from the South Florida grand jury, or whether it was issued out of another jurisdiction.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Yang, a U.S. citizen, helped circumvent a blanket ban on political contributions from foreigners. A separate investigation in South Florida is examining counterintelligence issues surrounding Mar-a-Lago.
Much of Yang’s massage parlor empire appears to be of interest to federal investigators in the Mar-a-Lago subpoena. The Herald reports that the subpoena demands information about a number of her massage and beauty parlors, as well as a non-profit organization called the Women’s Charity Foundation that Yang was involved in.
The subpoena also reportedly asks for information about Yang’s immediate family members, as well as about certain employees of her massage parlors. One of them – Elizabeth MacCall – appeared on the website for a company Yang ran that hawked access to Trump, as well as investor visas.
Earlier in May, FBI agents reportedly interviewed BingBing Peranio, an employee of one of Yang’s salons. Peranio had told the New York Times that Yang helped her fill out a political contribution form for a $5,400 donation made in her name to Trump Victory. Investigators are reportedly examining whether Peranio was reimbursed for the donation.
Read the Miami Herald report here.
