A Chinese doctor has been accused of stealing medical research and attempting to smuggle it to China.
Chinese citizen Yunhai Li was charged in Harris County, Texas, and now faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. He previously worked as a researcher for MD Anderson Cancer Center and “attempted to steal proprietary cancer-related research and take it to China,” the county explained.
Some of Li’s work was funded through the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.
According to court documents, Li allegedly uploaded sensitive data to his personal Google Drive account while employed at the cancer center. He later deleted the files when confronted by hospital officials.
While working at the hospital, Li also retained his employment with a Chinese-affiliated hospital. This network also received the data Li uploaded to his Google Drive.
“When I accepted a post-doctoral position at MDACC in 2022, I retained my employment position at the First Affiliated Hospital. The First Affiliated Hospital continued to pay me a reduced salary through 2023 and has held my employment position there pending my return from the United States,” Li wrote on a form obtained by ABC 13.
The court documents note that Li stole the information because the work was a “product of my efforts over the last three years.” He believed that he had the “right to possess and retain this data.”
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told Fox 26 that authorities detained Li as he attempted to board a flight to China. “There was a pretty good chance that he was going to get deported or leave the country – so we needed to file something,” Teare said. “We needed to make sure that he was going to stay here, the information was going to stay here, and he was going to be held accountable.”
