Former UC researcher, a Chinese national charged with visa fraud, gets a trial date in federal court

District Judge in Sacramento orders Tang Juan, 38, to return to court at 9 a.m. Feb. 8 for the trial

A  judge on Tuesday set a February jury trial date for a 38-year-old former University of California, Davis, researcher charged with visa fraud and lying to the FBI about being a member of the Chinese military, a case that made national headlines.



Tang Juan, of Xi’an, China, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges after being indicted in August, appeared remotely in a federal courtroom in Sacramento for a status conference among District Judge John A. Mendez, her three attorneys — Malcolm S. Segal, Patrick Wong, and Thomas A. Johnson — and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heiko P. Coppola, who leads the prosecution.

During the online proceeding, according to the court reporter’s minutes, Mendez set the jury trial for 9 a.m. Feb. 8, as Tang, out of custody on $750,000 bond, listened with the help of a Mandarin interpreter, Richard Shek.

Tang’s bond, promised by an attorney, Steven X. Cui, is not cash, but it means that if Tang skips her court dates, he will have to sell his home or muster the $750,000. Cui and his wife have agreed to let Tang live with them and make sure she attends all court hearings, court records indicate.

U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott on Sept. 10 filed a motion to revoke U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman’s pretrial release of Tang.

In the motion, Scott and Coppola referred to Tang’s July 23 arrest by federal agents, who had observed her leaving the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. Coppola also noted the Department of Homeland Security’s lodging of an immigration detainer and the U.S. State Department’s revocation of her J-1 visa, a non-immigrant visa for people approved to participate in work-study-based programs in the United States.

Tang is alleged to have received the visa after making false statements during the application process about her military service, concealing her ties to China’s military so she could work in the United States.

When later interviewed by FBI agents, Tang reportedly made false statements about her military service. Specifically, U.S. authorities allege that Tang is a current member of the Chinese Air Force and lied about serving in the Asian nation’s armed forces.

If convicted of visa fraud, she could face as much as 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. If also convicted of making false statements, she could face a maximum of five years in prison and another $250,000 fine.

Her pending court date comes after Tang and three other Chinese nationals were charged with visa fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about their status as members of the Chinese military.

Xin Wang, Chen Song and Kaikai Zhao were either previously arrested or indicted, Department of Justice officials have said.

If convicted at trial for visa fraud, each of the others, like Tang, face a maximum term of 10 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Tang was the last of the four to be arrested after the Justice Department accused the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, where she took brief refuge, of harboring a known fugitive.

Wang, who stated on his visa application that he would conduct research at the University of California, San Francisco, was arrested on June 7 and appeared in federal court the next day. A grand jury in the Northern District of California indicted him on June 22.Court documents indicated Wang was instructed by his military supervisor to observe the layout of the UCSF lab and bring back information on how to replicate it in China.

Song, who is in her late 30s, entered the United States on Dec. 23, 2018, and indicated on her visa application that she came to the U.S. to conduct brain-related research at Stanford University. Song was arrested July 18.

According to a complaint filed in the Southern District of Indiana on July 17, Zhao, a graduate student studying machine learning and artificial intelligence at Indiana University, applied for a nonimmigrant visa in June 2018.

DOJ officials believe Zhao served in the National University of Defense Technology, the People’s Liberation Army’s premier school for scientific research and education and attended a Chinese military academy that can be compared to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

UC Davis officials, according to a July Associated Press report, indicated Tang left her job as a visiting researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology in June. Her work was funded by a study-based exchange program affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education, the university noted in a written statement.

As previously reported, federal investigators said they believe Tang sought refuge at the consulate after they interviewed her on June 20 at her Davis apartment, at 920 Cranbrook Court, where, with a warrant, they later seized electronic media and her Chinese passport.

During the past several months,FBI agents interviewed visa holders in more than 25 American cities suspected of hiding their ties to the Chinese military.

The allegations against Tang and the others come as U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate, particularly over allegations of Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property.



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