Florida spa chain founder advertised access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago for Chinese execs: report

The founder of a chain of Florida spas recently seen in a Super Bowl selfie with President Trump reportedly advertised access to the president at his Mar-a-Lago resort through a website for her consulting firm.

Mother Jones reported Saturday that a website for GY US Investments LLC, which was founded in 2017 by Li Yang and her husband, Zubin Gong, was advertising “activities for clients” looking to make top connections in the United States, including the chance to “interact” with the president and others.

{mosads}A website written mostly in Chinese and displaying a picture of Mar-a-Lago advertised “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures,” according to Mother Jones. The website also reportedly advertised helping arrange presidential photo-ops and the chance to set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner,” Mother Jones reported.

The firm’s website reportedly stopped functioning Friday, the day a Miami Herald report revealed that Yang had posed with Trump for a selfie-style photo at his annual Super Bowl watch party. The report noted that Yang founded a chain of Florida spas that have “gained a reputation for offering sexual services,” including one location she sold in 2013, now called the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is accused of soliciting prostitution.

A Feb. 3 photo obtained by the Herald shows a smiling Yang, 45, posing with the president, while her Facebook page, which reportedly was also taken down Friday, displayed pictures of Yang posing with other top GOP figures, including Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

A spokesman for Gaetz told The Hill in a statement that the congressman has never visited any of Yang’s spas and does not know her personally, adding that the picture took place at a Florida campaign event for now-Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

“During Congressman Gaetz’s Chairmanship of the Criminal Justice Committee in the Florida House of Representatives, he cracked down on human trafficking and worked across party lines to craft laws used in the arrests involving Ms. Yang’s Day Spa. Palm Beach County Commissioner Dave Kerner (D-Lake Worth) served in the Florida House with Congressman Gaetz and affirmed the role their bipartisan legislation plays in support of local law enforcement,” Gaetz’s spokesman said.

Ten day spas, including the one she previously owned, were shut down in a Palm Beach human trafficking sting this month. Yang has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill on Saturday concerning whether Trump and Yang know each other or about the claims reportedly advertised on the website linked to Yang.

Mother Jones said Yang and other listed business partners could not be reached for comment.

A bio page for Yang on the now-defunct website describes the businesswoman as being on the “Presidential Fundraising Committee,” according to Mother Jones, and she has donated tens of thousands to Trump-supporting PACs and the Trump campaign, according to the Miami Herald.