COLUMBUS – A husband and wife who worked for 10 years at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Research Institute are facing federal charges of stealing trade secrets
A grand jury indictment handed down in July and unsealed Monday accuses Li Chen, 46, and her 49-year-old husband, Yu Zhou, of stealing cellular research they conducted at in Columbus. and illegally transferring the information to China.
The indictment also says the couple set up businesses in China, applied for patents there and traveled to China, all without Nationwide Children’s authorization.
Steve Nolder, an attorney representing Chen, declined comment, calling it a “complicated and sensitive case.” A message was left with Zhou’s attorney.
The two were arrested in California in July and arraigned in federal court in Columbus Monday afternoon.
Authorities say Zhou and Chen worked in separate medical research labs between 2007 and 2018 on research related to exosomes and exosome isolation. Exosomes play a key role in the research, identification and treatment of a range of medical conditions, including necrotizing enterocolitis — a condition found in premature babies — liver fibrosis and liver cancer.
While employed by the hospital they allegedly marketed products and services related to exosome isolation through the Chinese company they founded in China in 2015 and, as late as this year, advertised products and services related to exosome isolation an American biotechnology company Zhou helped co-found in 2017, including a kit that was developed from a trade secret created at Nationwide Children’s using the hospital’s resources and equipment.
In November 2017, Zhou and Chen allegedly received more than $876,000 and stock related to the American and Zhou allegedly entered into a stock purchase agreement worth $450,000 with the same company.
Conspiring to commit theft of trade secrets is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and conspiring to, commit wire fraud carries a potential maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, federal authorities said.