Two Chinese Nationals Charged with Smuggling Dangerous Fungus into U.S. for Work at University of Michigan Lab
On June 3, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced that Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of China, had been charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud. The two allegedly conspired to bring a dangerous fungus into the United States for research at a University of Michigan laboratory in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan. The FBI arrested Jian, who was to appear that afternoon in federal court in Detroit for her initial appearance.
Prosecutors said the smuggled fungus was Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. The noxious fungus causes head blight, a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Its toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.
According to the complaint, Jian received Chinese government funding for her work on this pathogen in China, and her electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. The complaint further alleges that Liu, her boyfriend, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen, and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America through Detroit Metropolitan Airport so that he could conduct research on it at the University of Michigan laboratory where Jian worked.
U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said the alleged actions, including those of a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party, are of the gravest national security concerns. The charges were announced with FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea Gibson and CBP Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon. The FBI and CBP are investigating the case. Prosecutors noted that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.
(Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan)
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于密歇根州沃什特诺县安娜堡市的密歇根大学 Randall 实验室大楼（资料图），两名被告被指拟在该校实验室研究走私入境的真菌。Michael Barera 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Randall Laboratory building at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan (file photo); the defendants allegedly intended to research the smuggled fungus at a university laboratory. Photo by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
