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A Sugar allegations against scientist michigan He pleaded guilty Wednesday to trafficking in biological materials, but was given no additional jail time on top of the five months he had already spent in custody.
Yunqing Jian, who was a temporary researcher University of Michigan Lab, will be released and quickly deported. A judge called it a “very strange” case involving an “incredibly accomplished researcher”.
Jian, 33, was arrested in June and accused of conspiring with her boyfriend to study and treat the poisonous fungus in a campus lab. The pathogen Fusarium graminearum can attack wheat, barley, corn and rice. Xunyong Liu was caught carrying small samples while arriving there detroit Airport in 2024.
In China, Jian and Liu specialized in studying Fusarium graminearum, which is widely found in American regions depending on weather and growing conditions. But it is illegal to bring it into the US without a government permit, which has strict conditions. The university did not have any permit.
Assistant US Attorney michael martin He said there was a potential for “catastrophic damage”, although he did not elaborate.
“I don’t have evidence that he had bad intentions,” Martin told a judge, referring to Gian. “But I don’t have proof that she was doing this for the good of mankind.”
Indiana University expert Roger Innes, who watched evidence from Jian’s lawyers, said there was “no risk to American farmers, or anyone else” or any intent to create a more virulent strain. He said Liu probably wanted to work with a unique microscope in the laboratory.
Martin asked for a two-year prison sentence for Gian – four times the maximum sentence of six months under sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Susan DeClercq imposed a five-month prison sentence, which Jian has already served.
Jian, wearing chains at his ankles and waist, apologized but said little, instead relying on a letter filed with the court.
Jian wrote, “I did not follow the rules because I was under pressure to carry out the research and produce results.” “The research was not meant to harm anyone, but to find ways to protect crops from disease.”
The conspiracy charge against Jian was dropped in exchange for pleading guilty to smuggling and making false statements to investigators. He admitted that in 2024, he had asked a colleague in China to send him biological material hidden in a book. The book was intercepted by American agents.
Liu was also charged in the investigation, but he remains in China and is unlikely to return to the US
Before being granted a visa to conduct research at the University of Texas, Jian was a postdoctoral scholar at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. She has been working in Michigan since summer 2023.