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14h ago

Italian Appeals Court to Weigh Extradition of Alleged Chinese State-Sponsored Hacker

Italian judges are weighing Washington’s request to send Xu Zewei to face accusations of hacking vaccine research despite defense claims of mistaken identity

The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.
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Overview

  • Xu Zewei was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on July 3 at the request of U.S. authorities and is held in Busto Arsizio prison as a U.S. warrant seeks his transfer.
  • A hearing at Milan’s Court of Appeals is set to determine whether to approve the U.S. extradition request.
  • A nine-count indictment unsealed on July 8 in the Southern District of Texas charges Xu and co-defendant Zhang Yu with computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021, including the HAFNIUM campaign.
  • U.S. court filings allege Xu worked under direction from China’s Ministry of State Security to steal COVID-19 vaccine research and later exploited Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities.
  • Defense lawyer Enrico Giarda contends Xu’s common surname led to a case of mistaken identity and suggests his account may have been compromised by another actor.