Overview

• Jian secured a new detention hearing date of June 13 after requesting time to hire a private lawyer and remains detained without bail.
• Liu was stopped by Customs and Border Protection at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July 2024 while carrying samples of Fusarium graminearum and remains in China with a warrant for his arrest.
• Prosecutors charge the pair with conspiracy, smuggling goods, false statements and visa fraud over the unauthorized import of the cereal crop fungus.
• FBI Director Kash Patel described the case as evidence of Chinese operatives targeting US agriculture and infiltrating American institutions.
• Agriculture experts say the fungus is already widespread in US fields and difficult to weaponize, even as the Trump administration moves to tighten visa rules for Chinese researchers.