Alleged Reedley biolab operator faces three-count indictment

16 Nov

Alleged Reedley biolab operator faces three-count indictment

Jia Bei Zhu, photo via U.S. Attorney's office

published on November 16, 2023 - 2:44 PM
Written by Business Journal staff

A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment Thursday against Jia Bei Zhu, 62, for his role in the illegal Reedley biolab discovered nearly a year ago.

Also known by the aliases Jesse Zhu, Qiang He and David He, the citizen of China who formerly resided in Clovis was charged with distributing adulterated and misbranded medical devices in violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between January 2020 and March 2023, through the companies Universal Meditech Incorporated (UMI) and Prestige Biotech Incorporated (PBI), Zhu sold hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 test kits to companies throughout the United States. UMI and PBI were based in Fresno and Reedley and did not obtain pre-market approval, pre-market clearance, emergency use authorization or other applicable exemption from the FDA as was required. UMI and PBI received millions of dollars for the sales of the test kits, authorities say.

When questioned by FDA officials, court documents say Zhu made several false statements to them, including that his name was Qiang “David” He; he was hired by UMI as a COVID-19 consultant in 2021; he was hired by PBI just a couple of weeks prior to meeting with the FDA to communicate with government agencies on PBI’s behalf; and he did not know anything about the manufacturing or distribution histories for either entity.

Zhu was arrested on Oct. 19.

If convicted, Zhu faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the adulterated and misbranding of medical devices charges, and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the false statements charge.

A report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Wednesday showed failures from the Centers for Disease Control to adequately respond to infectious threats at the illegal Reedley biolab, reported GVWire.