Legal Docket by CourtListener: United States v. Zheng (1:20-cr-10015)
Chinese Medical Researcher Tells His Story
On January 28, 2020, the Department of Justice issued an unusual press statement announcing "Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases." The three cases, including Professor Charles Lieber, are listed under the "China Initiative" online report. They have no apparent connection, but they prompted the Boston Magazine to publish an article on "City of Spies."
One of the three named is Zaosong Zheng, then a 30-year-old Chinese national and a medical researcher studying with Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Zheng was charged with one count of making a false statement and one count of smuggling goods from the U.S. The original announcement suggested that Zheng stole 21 vials that were related to cancer cell research.
Zheng was denied bail and was locked up for nearly three months after his December 2019 arrest. On January 6, 2021, Zheng pleaded guilty to one count of making false statement in an agreement. He was sentenced to time served and returned to China the same week.
On January 26, 2021, scholarsupdate.com in China reported a story by Zheng in Chinese titled "I was taken away by the FBI in the US, held for 87 days, appeared in court 12 times, and the court dropped the 'theft' charge."
According to the report, Zheng described the charges as trumped up and the U.S. media convicted him as a theft and a spy. The 21 vials were not cancer samples, and he did not steal them. The vials contained DNA expression vectors that Zheng created in the lab - ordinary biological material for research purposes that he has been conducting. The government had received the test results that would prove his innocence in February 2020, but his attorney did not receive the results from the government until July 2020.
Although Zheng had always insisted on a jury trial, but Harvard University revoked his visa a few days after his arrest, which means that he was in the country illegally without a valid visa or legal status and subject to detention by the Citizenship and Immigration Service. Based on the attorneys' advice, Zheng reached a plea agreement to admit making a false statement and not be allowed to enter the United States for at least 10 years after his deportation. This was what the prosecutors wanted to see the most, because it meant that they have done nothing wrong.
When he first went to court to apply for bail in December 2019, more than 20 local US media showed up on that day. The internet was full of stories about how he had stolen cancer samples from the lab, and charged him with theft. The media in China also reported his case with comments that scolded him for his audacity in stealing, his academic misconduct, and his disgrace to the Chinese people.
On December 11, 2019, Zheng was put in a two-person prison cell for the first time in his life. He broke down and cried. His African American cell mate comforted him, "it will all pass." Most of the prisoners were Black, with a few Whites and Asians. He was later assigned to a block of 70 prisoners.
Zheng was in prison for 87 days. He was released on bail on March 6, 2020, with the help of my attorney, I was released on bail. During this time, the government could not find any evidence against Zheng stealing samples that were not cancer cells. He was under house detention for the next nine months. In the meantime, he wrote a paper that was published by the European Journal of Radiology.
Zheng credited his wife through out the ordeal, including the search for attorneys and having made bail. One estimate put the cost of his case at more than half a million dollars, more than what an average family like his can handle. His wife finally found a law firm which is among the best in Boston. It set a cap for their fees because the lead considered it was a simple case and Zheng was wronged and slandered. After Zheng scraped together the money to hire a private lawyer, the prosecutor told the court that he had no idea where the money was coming from, that there might be some kind of force behind him that might come from the Chinese government.
Court appearances left Zheng feeling that the scales of justice were tilted, even when the lawyers gave him a good defense. For example, just because Zheng was a government-funded student from China, prosecutors concluded that he might be a spy, that he might fly back to China and never come back, or that he might run across the border to Mexico. These reasons sounded ridiculous to Zheng, but the judge agreed and denied bail for Zheng.
Zheng went to court eight times for bail. His attorney was surprised. He said he used to represent people in homicide and rape cases, which were more serious crimes, but the bail process was less complicated and involved fewer court appearances. The treatment did not fit with the seriousness of Zheng's case. Zheng said his attorney thought that there was obvious racial discrimination.
Although the theft and smuggling charges have been dropped and he is back in China, something has changed for Zheng forever. If the academic community in China chooses to believe the lies fabricated by the FBI and the Department of Justice, he may not be able to stay in the academic community. The outcome of his case has rarely been reported by the press in China. Most people still remember him from the time he was arrested. Had the incident not happened, Zheng would have graduated, remained in school and conduct research, or perhaps become a resident doctor a year ago.
In addition to the negative impact on his academic career, this event has, for more than a year, brought a great deal of stress to his wife’s family and Zheng, and has left them in constant fear. He has also many broken relationships and come to understand the cruelty of the real world. When it does not happen to you, it feels remote and unlikely, but when it happens to you, you see a lot of real problems.
If he had the chance in the future, Zheng said he would probably write about this horrible experience in detail, to show how the world is a ridiculous place in which a Chinese student is discriminated against and treated in every way in the United States.
Links and References
2021/01/26 美国华裔教授专家网: 一位中国博士生的自述：我被美国FBI带走，狱中87天，庭审12次，法院撤销了“偷窃”的指控
2021/01/07 Harvard Crimson: Former Harvard-Affiliated Researcher Ordered to Leave Country for Lying about Research Vials He Took from Lab
2021/01/06 DOJ: Chinese Researcher Sentenced for Making False Statements to Federal Agents
AP: Researcher gets time served for lying about vials inside bag
2020/05/21 Boston Magazine: City of Spies
2020/01/28 DOJ: Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases
One of the three named is Zaosong Zheng, then a 30-year-old Chinese national and a medical researcher studying with Harvard University and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Zheng was charged with one count of making a false statement and one count of smuggling goods from the U.S. The original announcement suggested that Zheng stole 21 vials that were related to cancer cell research.
Zheng was denied bail and was locked up for nearly three months after his December 2019 arrest. On January 6, 2021, Zheng pleaded guilty to one count of making false statement in an agreement. He was sentenced to time served and returned to China the same week.
On January 26, 2021, scholarsupdate.com in China reported a story by Zheng in Chinese titled "I was taken away by the FBI in the US, held for 87 days, appeared in court 12 times, and the court dropped the 'theft' charge."
According to the report, Zheng described the charges as trumped up and the U.S. media convicted him as a theft and a spy. The 21 vials were not cancer samples, and he did not steal them. The vials contained DNA expression vectors that Zheng created in the lab - ordinary biological material for research purposes that he has been conducting. The government had received the test results that would prove his innocence in February 2020, but his attorney did not receive the results from the government until July 2020.
Although Zheng had always insisted on a jury trial, but Harvard University revoked his visa a few days after his arrest, which means that he was in the country illegally without a valid visa or legal status and subject to detention by the Citizenship and Immigration Service. Based on the attorneys' advice, Zheng reached a plea agreement to admit making a false statement and not be allowed to enter the United States for at least 10 years after his deportation. This was what the prosecutors wanted to see the most, because it meant that they have done nothing wrong.
When he first went to court to apply for bail in December 2019, more than 20 local US media showed up on that day. The internet was full of stories about how he had stolen cancer samples from the lab, and charged him with theft. The media in China also reported his case with comments that scolded him for his audacity in stealing, his academic misconduct, and his disgrace to the Chinese people.
On December 11, 2019, Zheng was put in a two-person prison cell for the first time in his life. He broke down and cried. His African American cell mate comforted him, "it will all pass." Most of the prisoners were Black, with a few Whites and Asians. He was later assigned to a block of 70 prisoners.
Zheng was in prison for 87 days. He was released on bail on March 6, 2020, with the help of my attorney, I was released on bail. During this time, the government could not find any evidence against Zheng stealing samples that were not cancer cells. He was under house detention for the next nine months. In the meantime, he wrote a paper that was published by the European Journal of Radiology.
Zheng credited his wife through out the ordeal, including the search for attorneys and having made bail. One estimate put the cost of his case at more than half a million dollars, more than what an average family like his can handle. His wife finally found a law firm which is among the best in Boston. It set a cap for their fees because the lead considered it was a simple case and Zheng was wronged and slandered. After Zheng scraped together the money to hire a private lawyer, the prosecutor told the court that he had no idea where the money was coming from, that there might be some kind of force behind him that might come from the Chinese government.
Court appearances left Zheng feeling that the scales of justice were tilted, even when the lawyers gave him a good defense. For example, just because Zheng was a government-funded student from China, prosecutors concluded that he might be a spy, that he might fly back to China and never come back, or that he might run across the border to Mexico. These reasons sounded ridiculous to Zheng, but the judge agreed and denied bail for Zheng.
Zheng went to court eight times for bail. His attorney was surprised. He said he used to represent people in homicide and rape cases, which were more serious crimes, but the bail process was less complicated and involved fewer court appearances. The treatment did not fit with the seriousness of Zheng's case. Zheng said his attorney thought that there was obvious racial discrimination.
Although the theft and smuggling charges have been dropped and he is back in China, something has changed for Zheng forever. If the academic community in China chooses to believe the lies fabricated by the FBI and the Department of Justice, he may not be able to stay in the academic community. The outcome of his case has rarely been reported by the press in China. Most people still remember him from the time he was arrested. Had the incident not happened, Zheng would have graduated, remained in school and conduct research, or perhaps become a resident doctor a year ago.
In addition to the negative impact on his academic career, this event has, for more than a year, brought a great deal of stress to his wife’s family and Zheng, and has left them in constant fear. He has also many broken relationships and come to understand the cruelty of the real world. When it does not happen to you, it feels remote and unlikely, but when it happens to you, you see a lot of real problems.
If he had the chance in the future, Zheng said he would probably write about this horrible experience in detail, to show how the world is a ridiculous place in which a Chinese student is discriminated against and treated in every way in the United States.
Links and References
2021/01/26 美国华裔教授专家网: 一位中国博士生的自述：我被美国FBI带走，狱中87天，庭审12次，法院撤销了“偷窃”的指控
2021/01/07 Harvard Crimson: Former Harvard-Affiliated Researcher Ordered to Leave Country for Lying about Research Vials He Took from Lab
2021/01/06 DOJ: Chinese Researcher Sentenced for Making False Statements to Federal Agents
AP: Researcher gets time served for lying about vials inside bag
2020/05/21 Boston Magazine: City of Spies
2020/01/28 DOJ: Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases