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Ex-M.D. Anderson researcher accused of trying to steal trade secrets
An international investigation is underway after authorities say a local scientist tried to steal cancer related research from top medical institutes here in Houston and then send it to China. The suspect worked at MD Anderson and is now in custody.
HOUSTON - A former researcher at MD Anderson Cancer Center is accused of trying to steal proprietary cancer-related research and take it to China.
Former researcher facing charges
According to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, 35-year-old Yunhai Li was charged with theft of trade secrets, which carries a penalty of two to ten years in prison and fines up to $10,000. Officials say he was also charged with tampering with a government record, which is punishable with up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
The allegations
The backstory:
According to the district attorney’s office, the Chinese national had been employed by MD Anderson since 2022 and was working in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant research scholar exchange visa provided by the U.S. Department of State.
Li reportedly worked on breast cancer research funded through the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense during his employment.
Court documents say Li uploaded sensitive data to his personal Google Drive while employed with MD Anderson. They say the institution flagged this and confronted Li, who deleted the files and showed proof he did so.
What MD Anderson didn't know at the time, according to documents, was that Li uploaded the data to a similar drive hosted by a Chinese server called Baidu.
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Documents say this wasn't discovered until Li was trying to travel to China on July 9. At the airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in coordination with Homeland Security Investigations, searched his devices and found the new evidence, according to documents.
"We were able to detain him as he was trying to get on a flight to China," said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. "There was a pretty good chance that he was going to get deported or leave the country - so we needed to file something. 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."
Documents say on the Baidu drive, investigators found, "unpublished research data and articles representing trade secrets, including material-restricted confidential research data, writings, drawings and models."
"That intellectual property stays with us, so we can save lives," said Teare.
Documents also say Li was receiving grant funding through the National Natural Science Foundation of China as well as performing and publishing research for The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University prior to and during his employment at MD Anderson, saying Li did not disclose the conflict of interest.
The other side:
In the documents is a sworn statement signed by Li admitting to the acts, saying in the text, "I believe I have the right to possess and retain this data."
FOX 26 reached out to Li's defense attorney, who has yet to reply to our inquiry.
The investigation continues
What's next:
"We're not done with the investigation in this case. We know we have enough to get past probable cause, but we have a lot of avenues we have to go down to make sure that everyone involved is held accountable," said Teare.
Teare says it is possible that federal prosecutors file charges of their own concerning the case, but that will be up to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Li posted his $5,100 bail and bonded out of jail Monday, surrendering his passport as a condition of his bond.
The Source: The information in this article comes from the Harris County District Attorney's Office and Harris County court records.