Overview
- The order, entered Monday by U.S. District Judge James E. Simmons Jr., strips Li Chen and Yu Zhou of their naturalized citizenship.
- Prosecutors said the pair stole exosome isolation methods at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio to build and profit from related biotech ventures.
- Exosomes are tiny packets released by cells that can carry signals or disease markers, so methods to isolate them have high research and commercial value.
- The couple pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, received prison terms of 30 and 33 months, and owe more than $2.6 million in restitution with three years of supervised release.
- The Justice Department cited nearly $1.5 million tied to their trade‑secret scheme and funding from a Chinese state program, and it framed the denaturalization as part of efforts to protect U.S. research and the integrity of citizenship.