SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Federal prosecutors this week abruptly dropped fraud charges against three Chinese researchers accused of lying on visa applications about their ties to the Chinese military.
In tersely worded documents filed in two federal court cases Friday, the Justice Department asked for charges to be dismissed against Chen Song, a former Stanford researcher, and Xin Wang, who worked at a U.S. government-funded lab at the University of California, San Francisco.
According to Reuters, the dismissals came after Song’s legal team asked for her case to be dismissed based on a recently disclosed report in which FBI analysts questioned if the visa application question on “military service” was clear enough for scientists from Chinese military institutions to answer accurately.
On Thursday, prosecutors in the Eastern District of California moved to dismiss charges against another Chinese researcher accused of lying about links to the Chinese military. Juan Tang, who conducted research at UC Davis, was arrested in July last year after hiding out at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge John Mendez signed an order dismissing charges against Tang.
Wang was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in June 2020 as he attempted to board a flight to Tianjin, China. He told Customs and Border Patrol agents in an interview that he currently worked as a “Level 9 technician” for the Chinese military, an admission that allegedly contradicted the information provided in his December 2018 visa application.
Wang stated in that application that he stopped working for China’s People’s Liberation Army in September 2016. After obtaining a J1 visa for visiting scholars, Wang started working on a U.S. government-funded medical research project at UCSF.
“Wang stated that he intentionally made false statements about his military service in his visa application in order to increase the likelihood that he would receive his J1 visa,” FBI special agent Patrick Fogerty wrote in a 4-page criminal complaint filed on June 7.
Wang told CBP agents that his boss, the director of a military university lab in China, told him to observe the layout of a UCSF laboratory and bring back information on how to replicate it in China. Wang was carrying studies from UCSF with him when he attempted to fly to China on June 7, and he had previously emailed research to a Chinese military lab, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Wang wiped the history from his WeChat messaging app the morning he arrived at LAX, presumably to erase evidence of his communications with Chinese military officials.
Wang had received a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council and a stipend from the Chinese military while he was studying in the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
The Chinese researcher faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for visa fraud.
Reached by phone on Friday, Wang's attorney David Bigeleisen said U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse had just signed an order authorizing his client's release from Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County. Wang has been in jail for the last year.
Bigeleisen said he had not yet spoken to prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office and could not say why charges were dropped against his client. Wang has always maintained his innocence throughout the case, Bigeleisen said.
The defense lawyer added that Wang has family in China, who "I'm sure will be very happy to welcome him with open arms."
Chen Song, a 39-year-old Chinese national, was arrested in July 2020 and charged with lying on her application for a non-immigrant visa to conduct scientific research in the U.S. This past February, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against Song with four new charges, including obstruction of justice, lying to the FBI, and two counts of altering, destroying or concealing records with intent to hide them from a grand jury. The indictment included a forfeiture allegation that could have required her to return any property derived from or traceable to allegedly fraudulent statements in her visa application.
Federal prosecutors had two Ninth Circuit appeals pending in Song’s case, including one challenging a decision to throw out evidence from a July 13, 2020 interrogation at Song’s Newark, California home. U.S. District Judge William Alsup deemed Song’s statements during the interview inadmissible because FBI agents did not inform her of her Miranda rights. Prosecutors were also appealing Alsup’s decision to deny their request to withhold evidence as classified government secrets.
Song, who first entered the country to work at Stanford University in December 2018, was accused of falsely stating that she stopped working for the Chinese military in 2011. Prosecutors claim that last year, shortly after Wang was charged with visa fraud in a separate case, Song scrambled to cover her tracks and delete evidence linking her to the Chinese military. Officials said she tried to delete an entire folder of data on a hard drive that contained her resume, a picture of her military credentials, an image of her in full military dress and a letter addressed to the People’s Republic of China consulate in New York in which she reportedly acknowledged lying about her employer on her visa application.
Song had not been accused of spying but of misrepresenting her work history on a visa application submitted in 2018. She was facing up to 10 years in prison for visa fraud, 20 years for each obstruction charge and up to five years for lying to the FBI.
In an emailed statement, Song's attorney John Hemann said he and his client are grateful that the government "has done the right thing by dismissing this case."
Ed Swanson, another lawyer representing the Chinese scientist, said his client came to the U.S. for one reason: to become a doctor.
"While at Stanford, she did important research to help patients suffering from brain diseases — patients in the United States, China and throughout the world," Swanson said. "Dr. Song has been separated from her family for over a year, and we are delighted she will be home for her daughter’s eighth birthday.”
Tang's attorney, Emily Doringer of Sega & Associates, and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California did not immediately return emails requesting comment Friday.
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