The FBI's search of a Beverly Hills mansion on North Canon Drive is part of a broader federal investigation into alleged Chinese government influence on Southern California elected officials, according to reporting that has emerged since the Tuesday, July 28 raid.
Federal agents searched the 21,000-square-foot home at 613 N. Canon Drive alongside properties tied to San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, Ontario Mayor Pro Tem Alan Wapner, attorney Frank Lizarraga and EDI Media founder James Su, the Los Angeles Times reported. Subpoenas were also served at Ontario City Hall and Ontario International Airport.
The warrant affidavits remain sealed.
No arrests have been made.
A source close to the investigation told the New York Post the probe is a public corruption case "with a possible foreign influence component." The FBI confirmed the search warrant addresses but has not disclosed the nature of the allegations.
Beverly Hills property's murky ties
The Beverly Hills mansion was sold in 2023 for $24.6 million to buyers from mainland China. Public records list the purchasers as Rosy East Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, and Apollo Capital XI LLC. An individual named Tong Wu signed on behalf of both entities, the Daily Bulletin reported.
Apollo Capital XI, the same company that purchased the Beverly Hills mansion, later bought a $9 million office building on Vineyard Avenue in Ontario where Lizarraga previously had an office and where "Wapner for Mayor" appeared on the building directory as of July 31. Tong Wu registered a long list of California LLCs that have purchased more than $50 million in properties nationwide and donated $580,000 to more than 75 Democratic candidates and committees in roughly one month in 2022.
Still, the Daily Bulletin's investigative reporting found no clear publicly established ties between the Beverly Hills mansion and the other parties in the probe.
Fallout across the region
The political consequences have been swift. Hagman skipped the Aug. 4 San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors meeting and stepped away from his county boards and commissions. Wapner withdrew from the Ontario mayor's race on Aug. 7, filing instead for reelection to his council seat.
"I don't believe I am the suspect, the subject, or target of any investigation," Wapner said at the Aug. 4 Ontario City Council meeting. He added that the subpoena served to the airport and to the city does not reference him.
EDI Media, which describes itself as the largest Chinese-American multimedia company in the United States, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in May 2022 because it formerly printed the U.S. edition of a newspaper considered a "foreign mission" of the Chinese government.
Audrye Wong, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who researches Chinese foreign influence operations, told the Daily Bulletin the pattern fits "probably a case of some local corruption or illicit wrongdoing by these local officials, with a dose of opportunistic foreign influence."
The probe follows the May 2026 guilty plea of former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang, who admitted she was directed by the Chinese government to promote propaganda in the United States.
Residents with information can contact the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.
