Sacramento judge offers Chinese researcher ‘huge break,’ allows her release from jail

A federal judge in Sacramento agreed Friday to release from custody a Chinese cancer researcher arrested last month on charges that she lied about her background to gain access to UC Davis laboratories, but she will not be getting out of the Sacramento County Main Jail for at least a week, if then.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman said he was willing to allow Dr. Juan Tang, 37, to be released from custody into the supervision of a civil attorney and Chinese emigre who came forward and offered to put up $750,000 in equity in his home as bond, even though he does not know her.

“You’re getting a huge break here,” Newman told Tang during a Zoom video conference in Sacramento federal court.

Newman said he had never before seen a case like this one, with a complete stranger — identified in court only as Mr. C — willing to take a defendant into his home because he believes in the justice system.

“You’ve got someone who has come forward to say that they believe in this system, do not let them down, do not let the court down,” Newman told Tang.

Then, he cautioned Mr. C that prosecutors would not hesitate to collect on the bond if Tang fails to appear for future court hearings.

“Trust me, you’ve put your house at risk,” he said. “The government will come get it.”

Mr. C initially agreed to supervise Tang in his home, where she is to remain 24 hours a day except for medical, religious or other pre-approved visits, with the understanding that he can remain anonymous.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Heiko Coppola argued that other people in such arrangements are not granted anonymity, and noted that the bond papers submitted to the court could include the man’s name and address.

Newman cautioned Mr. C that his name very well could become public, and the attorney said he understood that and was willing to see that happen, if necessary.

The judge also said he wanted to be certain that Mr. C had come forward on his own and had not been contacted by any members of the Chinese government or military.

“No, not at all,” Mr. C said. “As a matter of fact, that’s part of my concern to remain anonymous, so we will minimize the possibility of any party reaching out to us.”

Generating the paperwork for the bond is expected to take until late next week, and even then there is no guarantee that Tang will win release from the jail.

Coppola, who has strenuously argued that Tang is a flight risk with no ties to this country, is expected to ask U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to review the decision to grant Tang’s release.

Tang has been in the United States since December, when she arrived at San Francisco International Airport to begin a grant research program studying cancer at UC Davis.

But the research was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the lab, and Tang was preparing to return to China when the FBI showed up at her door in June to question her and seize her passport and six electronic devices.

She took refuge in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, and while she was there she was charged in a sealed criminal complaint with lying on her visa application about her ties to China’s military.

Tang’s lawyers say she is a civilian who worked on a program in China involving the military, but government prosecutors say she is a member of the military and is one of several Chinese researchers at universities nationwide who have faced similar charges.

The latest such case came Friday, with the arrest of a Chinese researcher who worked at the University of Virginia who was charged with accessing a computer without authorization and theft of trade secrets.

Haizhou Hu, 34, was stopped Tuesday by U.S. officials as he prepared to board a flight to China at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, and he was found to have sensitive research materials on his electronic devices, documents filed in federal court in Charlottesville, Va., say.

Authorities questioning Hu said he gave conflicting stories about whether he had permission from the research leader he worked with — identified as “Professor 1” — to take the information out of the country, court documents say.

“At first, Hu indicated that Professor 1 knew he was taking his research with him,” according to an FBI affidavit filed with the complaint. “Later, Hu stated that neither Professor 1 nor anyone else was aware he was taking his research with him back to China.”

The Justice Department said Hu was arrested after “a routine screening conducted by authorities revealed that Hu was alleged to be in possession of bio-inspired research simulation software code that he was not authorized to possess, and which represented the result of years of research and resources in its development by members of the University of Virginia academic community.”