Overview
- Researchers Xu Bai, 28, and Fengfan Zhang, 27, are charged with conspiracy to smuggle biological materials, and Zhiyong Zhang, 30, is charged with making false statements.
- Court filings describe improperly manifested packages labeled as items like “doc” or “plastic plates” that allegedly contained petri dishes, plasmids, and handwritten labels consistent with C. elegans research.
- Investigators say shipments were sent by Chengxuan Han, who previously pleaded no contest to smuggling and false-statement counts, was sentenced, and removed from the U.S.
- The University of Michigan fired the three after they declined to cooperate with an internal probe, their J-1 SEVIS records were terminated on Oct. 8, and federal officers detained them at JFK on Oct. 16 as they attempted to depart for China.
- If convicted, the conspiracy counts carry up to 20 years in prison and the false-statements charge up to five years; officials frame the matter as part of a broader pattern as community advocates warn about impacts on international scholars.