Married Couple Pleads Guilty to Importing Toxic Lab Chemicals, Computer Fraud
Chenyan Wu and Lianchun Chen, a married couple in San Diego, pleaded guilty May 19 to gathering confidential mRNA research from the pharmaceutical company where both worked, part of their effort to aid the husband's competing laboratory research in China, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced May 19.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
From 2013 to 2018, Chen repeatedly copied confidential materials from her company's computers, then emailed those materials to her husband. The materials included PowerPoint and Word documents with DNA and mRNA sequencing data, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. In 2021, Wu attempted to move his company, TheraMab, to the U.S., carrying five suitcases of lab equipment to the U.S., but didn't declare it on his customs form. While inspecting the cases, customs officers found improperly packaged chemical and biological samples, medical equipment and research documents, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
This led to Wu and Chen to be charged in California district court, where they pleaded guilty. Wu pleaded guilty to smuggling goods, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Chen pleaded guilty to computer fraud, which carries a one-year maximum penalty and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for August.
“These are serious computer fraud and smuggling crimes,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said. “One defendant failed to protect her employer’s confidential and important research, and instead used it to her and her husband’s advantage. Compounding the harm, the other defendant put travelers in harm’s way by illegally transporting his laboratory’s hazardous chemicals back to the United States.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection for their excellent work on this case.