Overview
- Jia Bei Zhu, 64, was found guilty on 12 counts Wednesday after a two-week federal trial in Sacramento, including conspiracy, wire fraud, distributing misbranded devices, and lying to the FDA.
- Prosecutors said Zhu used his company, Universal Meditech Inc., to sell more than one million faulty COVID-19 test kits nationwide, taking in nearly $4 million during the pandemic.
- Evidence showed the kits were imported from China and then repackaged with false claims that they were FDA-approved, made in the United States, and produced in certified labs.
- Trial testimony described an unsanitary Fresno warehouse with no real capacity to make tests, where untrained workers were told to mislead customers and some feared retaliation if they refused.
- The case gained urgency after a 2022 Reedley warehouse inspection raised biosecurity concerns, and Zhu now awaits August sentencing as his charged partner, Zhaoyan Wang, remains a fugitive believed to be in China.