JUST PUBLISHED: Researcher Accused of Stealing From Cancer Center for China. READ MORE: https://t.co/Wv8L980tJ6 https://t.co/Wv8L980tJ6
NEW @thenatpulse: Researcher Accused of Stealing From Cancer Center for China. PULSE POINTS ❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Chines...... READ ON: https://t.co/Rtuday2lj5
Chinese doctor accused of attempting to smuggle cancer research from US to China https://t.co/YeWYN3kDkl
A Chinese national who worked as a research scholar at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been charged with stealing taxpayer-funded medical research and trying to send it to China, Texas prosecutors said. Yunhai Li, 35, was indicted in Harris County on counts of theft of trade secrets—a second-degree felony—and tampering with government records. Investigators allege Li downloaded roughly 90 gigabytes of confidential data tied to a nearly completed breast-cancer-vaccine project financed by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. Prosecutors say he uploaded the material to a personal Google Drive account and to a Baidu server in China, then resigned abruptly on 1 July. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations detained Li on 9 July at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport as he attempted to board a flight to China. Officers seized a laptop containing the unpublished research and other proprietary files. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office formally filed charges on 26 August. Li, in the United States on a State Department exchange-scholar visa since 2022, told police he believed he had a right to the data and that it was “going to waste,” according to court documents. He was released on a $5,100 bond after surrendering his passport. Conviction on the trade-secret count carries a potential sentence of two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Federal authorities have not ruled out additional charges.
