At the end of 2024, when news broke that Silicon Valley legend and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison was marrying a young Chinese-American woman, the media’s first reaction was not congratulations, but caution. The woman, named Keren Zhu, had almost no public profile, no social media presence, and no professional record. A person who was nearly “invisible” in the digital age had quietly become the wife of one of the world’s richest men.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Keren Zhu was born in Shenyang, China, studied in the U.S. from 2010, and graduated in 2012 from the University of Michigan’s International Studies program, later becoming a U.S. citizen. Her first publicly known photo with Ellison appeared at the BNP Paribas Tennis Open in March 2019—a time when the U.S.-China tech conflict was escalating.
It is notable that at this time, the U.S. had sanctioned China over “intellectual property theft” and state-backed tech espionage. In 2018, the U.S.-China tech war erupted: the Huawei case, the ZTE sanctions, and China’s “Made in China 2025” plan had all put U.S. national security on high alert.
That same year, Keren Zhu quietly appeared in Ellison’s life.
The Times reveals female spy ‘honey trap’ operations
On Oct. 22, 2024, The Times published an investigative report titled “Female Spy Launches ‘Sex War’ to Steal Silicon Valley Secrets”, noting that Chinese and Russian intelligence agencies were extensively using “honey trap” operations to infiltrate the tech industry. According to the report, these agencies deploy or bribe attractive women to use emotional or sexual relationships to approach executives in AI, semiconductors, defense, and other sensitive sectors.
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This phenomenon has been described as a “digital extension of Cold War tactics”—traditional spy traps now leveraging social media and tech networking events, making them more covert and penetrating.
Keren Zhu’s unusually close relationship with Ellison fits this model of “covert intimate infiltration.”
Public records show that Keren Zhu has almost no social media accounts and no LinkedIn professional profile—extremely rare for U.S.-educated international students. She once lived near Oracle’s old headquarters, paying rent of only $800–$2,000, clearly not part of the wealthy class.
Yet, within a few years, she married one of the world’s top tech magnates—without a public wedding, media coverage, or social footprint. The marriage was only publicly confirmed in 2024 when the University of Michigan football team published a thank-you notice revealing that the couple had donated $10.5 million.
Coincidences in the timeline and Silicon Valley anxiety
Interestingly, starting in 2025, Oracle faced multiple cyberattacks targeting its cloud infrastructure and zero-day vulnerabilities, resulting in millions of records being leaked. FBI investigations linked some attacks to Chinese-backed hacker groups, including APT41 and the RedEcho network.
Coincidentally, these incidents nearly overlapped with Keren Zhu’s emergence in Ellison’s life, raising suspicions that she might have been one of the “covert partners” arranged by Chinese intelligence.
Whether Keren Zhu is truly connected to China remains unconfirmed, as U.S. intelligence has not publicly released investigation results. Nevertheless, the marriage highlights a harsh reality: the closer global technology and power converge, the nearer espionage comes to private life.
Modern “spy love stories” quietly play out between emotion and intelligence, marriage and national security.
Elon Musk’s warning
Silicon Valley tech leader Elon Musk also issued warnings on X, implying that some tech leaders “underestimate the intelligence risks in personal relationships.” Multiple media outlets interpreted Musk’s posts as cautionary notes about “honey traps.”
The Times report notes that Chinese intelligence agencies are “using love as bait and the state as the stake,” patiently infiltrating key tech sectors over the long term.
As early as December 2020, Fox News exposed China’s “honey trap network” in the U.S., potentially involving thousands of cases. Using the scandal of Chinese spy Christine Fang and U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell as an example, the report highlighted China’s preference for “early-stage infiltration”—establishing control through emotion, money, or connections before targets rise to power.
Retired CIA official Daniel Hoffman described this strategy as: “Invest first, reap later.”
Christine Fang was a smart and attractive Chinese woman active in U.S. political circles. According to Fox News (Dec. 10, 2020) and Axios, she infiltrated local and federal politics through social and romantic relationships, establishing a vast intelligence network that triggered a full FBI investigation.
Fang arrived in the U.S. around 2011 as a student and operated in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fluent in English and outgoing, she regularly attended political events and fundraising dinners, quickly building extensive connections within the Democratic Party in Northern California. She volunteered on multiple political committees and maintained close ties with local officials.
Investigations show she not only fundraised and campaigned for local politicians but also helped form campaign teams and, in some cases, established private relationships to deepen trust and dependence. U.S. intelligence called this “typical influence work,” using emotional and social infiltration to gradually penetrate power circles.
Focus figure: California congressman Swalwell’s ‘red connection’
The most prominent case involved California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell. Fox News reported in 2020 that Fang not only assisted Swalwell’s 2014 congressional campaign but also helped recruit at least one intern for his office, triggering FBI scrutiny.
The FBI began its investigation around 2015 and eventually warned Swalwell to cut ties with Fang. Sources indicate Fang later left the U.S., possibly returning to China in 2015.
Although Swalwell faced no charges, the scandal affected his political career. At the time, he was a member of the House Intelligence Committee involved in China-related national security discussions, heightening the sensitivity of the case.
According to Fox News, former intelligence and counterintelligence experts estimated that China’s honey trap operations could involve thousands of ongoing plans targeting U.S. politics, tech industries, and military institutions.
Retired CIA operations officer Daniel Hoffman explained China’s strategy as “early-stage cultivation”: “They establish connections while people are still young and unknown. When these targets rise to prominence, these relationships become assets for long-term control and intelligence exploitation.”
This approach emphasizes long-term infiltration over immediate intelligence collection, resembling “covert political grooming” rather than traditional espionage operations.
Honey traps and ‘compromising material’ – From seduction to control
BBC analysis reports that Chinese female spies or intelligence collaborators are often recruited domestically, sometimes under family pressure or coercion. After participating in seduction missions, these women often become victims themselves:
“Their relationships with targets are secretly recorded and used as tools for blackmail and mutual control.”
This dual-control model makes intelligence operations more covert and effective, with operatives functioning as both manipulators and hostages.
The FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have repeatedly warned that Chinese intelligence activity has expanded from the federal level to local politics and grassroots officials, who often lack national security training and are susceptible to invitations, donations, and “friendship diplomacy.”
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) noted: “China’s overseas intelligence strategy has entered a third phase—from intelligence theft to ideological and decision-making influence.”
The Fang case exemplifies this strategic shift.
The Fang case revealed personal and political secret interactions while highlighting the long-term and systematic nature of China’s infiltration operations. From local U.S. politics to university labs, from business circles to social media, China is using soft strategies to infiltrate the decision-making nerves of Western societies.
A former U.S. intelligence officer said: “The real threat isn’t spies from movies—it’s those who, under the guise of friendship, love, academics, and funding, gradually change a free society.”
