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Yunqing Jian (UM photo)
Yunqing Jian, 33, a Chinese scholar who conducted research at the University of Michigan, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Detroit federal court to smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the U.S.—a pathogen capable of damaging agricultural crops and causing illness in humans and livestock. She also admitted to lying to the FBI about it.
Jian was given no additional time beyond the five months she served in custody after her arrest in June. Authorities plan to quickly deport her.
“We must stop Chinese nationals who are smuggling potentially catastrophic biomaterials," Detroit U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gordon said in a statement. "We cannot allow these smugglers to work in the shadows at the University of Michigan. This felony conviction and sentence are a small but important measure against secret biological threats from China."
The FBI arrested Jian in June in connection with allegations related to Jian’s and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu’s smuggling of a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. The fungus causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.
According to court records, Jian received Chinese government funding for her work on this pathogen in China.
Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen. He initially lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the U.S.—through Detroit Metropolitan Airport—so that he could conduct research on it at the University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend, Jian, worked, authorities said.
He faces criminal charges but is now in China and is unlikely to return to the U.S.
