[1][7] The Miami Herald reported that these businesses had a reputation for illegally offering sexual services while still owned by Yang, but she denied knowledge of this.
[8] Yang appeared to be uninvolved with politics prior to 2015, when she "made some small donations" to the presidential campaign of Jeb Bush.
[1] Yang has frequently sought to be photographed with Republican Party figures, and has been photographed with President Donald Trump,[11] his sons Eric Trump,[11] and Donald Trump Jr.,[11][12] U.S Representatives Matt Gaetz[7] and Brian Mast,[13] White House staffer Kellyanne Conway,[7] former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin,[7] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,[11] former Governor and later Senator Rick Scott,[11] Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao,[1] and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
[19] Yujing Zhang, who was arrested on March 30, 2019 trying to enter Mar-a-Lago, paid to attend a Yang-promoted Chinese-language social media event.
[20] In May 2019, it was reported that the FBI had opened an investigation into Yang to determine whether she had illegally funneled foreign money into President Trump's re-election effort.
[21] In September 2022, the Miami Herald reported that Republican members of the Federal Election Commission had blocked an investigation into Yang's campaign contributions, "despite a staff finding that laws likely were broken".