Chen Li and her husband, Zhou Yu, both previously worked at the National Children’s Hospital Research Institute. (Google earth)
Li Chen (47), a Chinese-American researcher who pleaded guilty to wire fraud for stealing scientific trade secrets from the National Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Ohio, was sentenced by a judge in federal court to 2 1/2 years (30 months) in prison. Her husband’s accomplice, Yu Zhou, 50, is still awaiting sentencing.
According to the verdict, in addition to serving 2.5 years in prison, Chen Li’s 500,000 shares of Avalon GloboCare Corp. and 400 shares of GenExosome Technologies Inc. worth about $1.4 million were forfeited, and she is also required to pay $2.6 million in restitution.
Chen Li pleaded guilty in court in late July last year to stealing medical research results about exosomes from the hospital’s laboratory and transferring them to a company she set up in China in an attempt to make a profit, and her husband, Zhou Yu, who also worked at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s research facility but was part of the unit for 10 years, was arrested in California in July 2019 and charged with stealing at least five trade secrets related to the research.
The couple set up a company in China in 2015 without the hospital’s knowledge to sell products related to trade secrets stolen from the institute. Zhou Yu also helped found a U.S. biotech company in 2017 that used stolen trade secrets to advertise its products.
The two stole trade secrets related to exosomes, which play a key role in the research, identification and treatment of a range of diseases, including necrotizing small bowel colitis (a disease that often occurs in premature infants), liver fibrosis and liver cancer, and the institute has invested heavily in related research over the years.
According to the plea agreement, Chen Li conspired to manufacture and sell the combination package from stolen trade secrets, and she also admitted to opening a company in China to sell the combination package; in addition, Chen Li received funding from government agencies, including from China’s State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and China’s National Natural Science Foundation, and she applied for membership in several Chinese government talent programs, which are one of the ways China transfers foreign research and technology She has also applied to join several Chinese government talent programs, which are one of the ways China transfers foreign research and technology to the Chinese government.
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