Overview
- Xu Zewei, who was transferred from Italy over the weekend, appeared Monday in federal court in Houston on a nine-count indictment.
- U.S. prosecutors say Xu worked under officers from China’s Ministry of State Security in Shanghai to break into universities and steal COVID‑19 research in early 2020.
- The indictment links him to HAFNIUM, also known as Silk Typhoon, which exploited flaws in Microsoft Exchange email servers and planted hidden web shells that let attackers control systems remotely.
- The FBI says that campaign compromised more than 12,700 U.S. organizations, including a Texas university and a global law firm that was searched for information on U.S. policymakers.
- Italy extradited Xu after a court approved the transfer, and China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the case as politically driven; he is held in a Houston federal facility, faces up to 62 years if convicted, and co-defendant Zhang Yu remains at large.