American Military News by Jim Woods - The Columbus Dispatch August 01, 2020
A Chinese national admitted Thursday in federal court to stealing scientific trade secrets for personal gain and for her country while she worked as a researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Li Chen, 47, who had lived in Dublin, Ohio, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The plea was entered via video conference with Judge Sarah D. Morrison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus. Her sentencing date has not yet been set.
“Chen betrayed her employer of 10 years by stealing trade secrets from this American institution and transferring them to China after receiving payments from the Chinese government,†said David M. DeVillers, the U.S. Attorney in Columbus.
Chen and her husband, accused co-conspirator Yu Zhou, worked for 10 years in separate medical research labs at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Zhou worked there from 2007 to 2017 while Chen was employed from 2008 to 2018.
The couple was arrested in July 2019 in California, charged with conspiring to steal at least five trade secrets related to exosome research while they were employed at Nationwide Children’s. Zhou’s case is still pending.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/08/chinese-national-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-trade-secrets-from-nationwide-childrens-hospital/
