政治

🇨🇳 national and former University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researcher Yunhai Li (李云海) was arrested on Aug 22 for trying to steal research funded by the US Government and smuggle it back to China.

Li was charged with theft of trade secrets (a felony) and tampering with a government record (a misdemeanor).

Li began working for MD Anderson on a non-immigrant research scholar visa in 2022. He was conducting breast cancer vaccine research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. His employment made him an employee of the State of Texas.

Li resigned from his position at MD Anderson on July 1 and tried to leave the US on July 9 but was stopped at the airport by US Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security agents. Li was carrying sensitive medical information through the airport.

When he started working in the US, Li signed confidentiality agreements that were meant to prevent him from sharing information outside the cancer center. He also certified that he didn’t have foreign research funding or outside affiliations.

Li was actually receiving funding from 🇨🇳 National Natural Science Foundation of China and was performing research for 🇨🇳 The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (重庆医科大学附属第一医院).

While he was a researcher at MD Anderson, Li was listed as an author on medical research published in China.

He placed unpublished cancer research onto his personal devices and then uploading it to 🇨🇳 Baidu’s cloud service. He also used software to delete evidence of his uploads.

When he was stopped at the airport, border agents found two phones and a laptop with evidence of MD Anderson files on them, according to court records. Li told investigators that he intended to continue his breast cancer vaccine research in China and that he had a right to possess the data. Li told border agents he didn’t remember signing any nondisclosure agreements.

Li said MD Anderson officials confronted him about downloading files to his personal devices and that he “felt like his research was being wasted after his research contract ended.”

Li said he downloaded about 90 gigabytes worth of files and folders and intended to continue his research in China.

Li added that he was hoping that CBP would not discover this information on his electronics.

Li wasn’t immediately detained at the airport. He was released and then arrested on Aug 22. He was subsequently released again on a $5,000 bond and was ordered to remain in the Houston area.

According to the criminal complaint, Li is also under investigation for several other crimes, including wire fraud, theft of federal funds and abuse of official capacity. If convicted of the state felony, Li could face up to 10 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.