窃取儿童医院商业秘密并与中国分享，华人夫妇被联邦法官撤销入籍
2026年3月31日，美国司法部宣布，加利福尼亚州南区联邦地区法院法官 James E. Simmons Jr. 于3月30日作出裁决，撤销华人研究员夫妇 Li Chen 与 Yu Zhou 的入籍美国公民资格，认定两人系以非法手段取得入籍。两人此前在位于俄亥俄州哥伦布市的全国儿童医院（Nationwide Children's Hospital）担任研究员，从事外泌体分离研究。
司法部称，Chen 于2007年持 H-1B 专业职业签证入境、由全国儿童医院担保，2011年转为永久居民，2016年入籍；Zhou 于2005年以交流访问者身份入境，2008年持 H-1B 签证入境，2011年作为 Chen 的配偶家属转为永久居民，2017年入籍。2019年，两人因窃取任职期间接触的医学商业秘密被捕。起诉书指称，两人以窃取的商业秘密创办自己的公司，并取得另一家使用这些商业秘密的公司的股份；两人还接受了中国国家外国专家局的资助，通过交易外泌体分离知识产权共同获益近 150 万美元。
两人此前各就一项共谋窃取商业秘密罪与一项共谋电汇欺诈罪认罪，Chen 被判处 30 个月监禁，Zhou 被判处 33 个月监禁，各加 3 年监督释放，并被责令共同连带赔偿超过 260 万美元。法院认定，两人的电汇欺诈共谋构成涉及道德败坏的犯罪，使其不具备入籍所需的良好品格；两人所犯的共谋电汇欺诈与共谋窃取商业秘密罪行，又构成反映其品格的非法行为，在不存在可宽宥情节的情况下，成为撤销入籍的另一项独立依据。
司法部长 Pamela Bondi 说，在对美国人民犯下严重罪行之后再取得公民资格，是对美国移民制度不可接受的滥用。司法部民事司助理部长 Brett A. Shumate 说，入籍不是权利，而是这个国家慷慨的人民给予的特权。此案由美国移民与海关执法局国土安全调查部门与该局首席法律顾问办公室调查，底层刑事案件由俄亥俄州南区联邦检察官办公室起诉。
关联：前谷歌工程师丁林伟窃取谷歌SI商业秘密 联邦陪审团裁定14项罪名成立
Federal Judge Revokes Naturalization of Couple Who Stole Children's Hospital Trade Secrets and Shared Them with China
On March 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Judge James E. Simmons Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California had on March 30 entered an order revoking the naturalized U.S. citizenship of husband and wife Li Chen and Yu Zhou, finding that they had illegally procured their naturalization. The two had worked as research scientists focused on exosome isolation at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
According to the department, Chen, a Chinese national, entered the United States in 2007 on an H-1B specialty occupation visa sponsored by Nationwide Children's Hospital, adjusted to permanent resident in 2011, and naturalized in 2016. Zhou, also a Chinese national, entered in 2005 as an exchange visitor, arrived again in 2008 on an H-1B visa sponsored by the hospital, adjusted to permanent resident in 2011 as Chen's derivative spouse, and naturalized in 2017. In 2019, both were arrested for stealing medical trade secrets from their employment. The indictments alleged that the couple personally benefited from the theft and sale of the hospital's trade secrets by establishing their own company and acquiring shares in another company that used the stolen secrets, and that both received funding from China's State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs. In total, they jointly received nearly $1.5 million from transactions involving the exosome isolation intellectual property.
Each previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Chen was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Zhou to 33 months, each with three years of supervised release, and they were ordered to pay over $2.6 million in restitution jointly and severally. The court held that their wire fraud conspiracy constituted a crime involving moral turpitude that left them without the good moral character required to naturalize, and that their crimes were also unlawful acts reflecting adversely on their moral character, with no extenuating circumstances, providing a separate basis to revoke their citizenship.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi said that gaining citizenship after committing serious crimes against the American people is an unacceptable abuse of the immigration system. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Civil Division said naturalization is not a right but a privilege given by the generous people of the nation. The cases were investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor; the underlying criminal cases were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
Related: Former Google Engineer Linwei Ding Convicted on All 14 Counts in SI Trade Secrets Case
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于美国华盛顿的美国司法部本部大楼入口石墙特写（资料照片）。G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A close view of the entrance wall of U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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