An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to conspiring with his wife to steal scientific trade secrets from a U.S. Children's hospital and sell them to China. Former Dublin resident Yu Zhou and his 47-year-old wife Li Chen pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal scientific trade secrets related to exosomes and exosome isolation from the Nationwide Children's Hospital Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. The couple worked in separate medical research laboratories at the Research Institute for 10 years each (Zhou from 2007 to 2017 and Chen from 2008 to 2018).
Exosomes play a key role in the research, diagnosis, and treatment of a range of medical conditions, including necrotizing enterocolitis (found in premature babies), liver fibrosis, and liver cancer.
The couple was arrested in California in July 2019 and charged with conspiracy to steal these scientific secrets.
The defendants admitted to setting up a company in China to sell the isolation kits. The couple received benefits from the Chinese government, including the State Administration of External Experts and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
On December 11, Zhou pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy, as well as one count of wire fraud. His wife, Chen, also pleaded guilty to the same crimes on July 30.
The couple agreed to forfeit their property and profits from crimes . For Chen, that means losing about $1.4 million, 500,000 shares in Avalon GloboCare Corp. , and 400 shares in GenExosome Technologies, Inc. Details of Zhou's losses for his crimes will be finalized through his trial.
John Demers, a national security, said China is constantly making efforts to steal, copy and replace American products, also noting that those who seek to profit from the theft of trade secrets will be held accountable.
