A Chinese national employed as a researcher at the MD Anderson Cancer Center was arrested for allegedly attempting to steal U.S.-funded cancer research and transport it to China. Yunhai Li, 35, was detained in July at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after border patrol discovered confidential medical records on his laptop during an inspection. He was scheduled to board a flight to China.
Li faced charges of Theft of Trade Secrets (a third-degree felony) and Tampering with a Government Record (a class A misdemeanor). The Harris County District Attorney’s office stated that the trade secret theft charge carries penalties of two to ten years in prison and fines up to $10,000, while tampering with a government record could result in up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
According to court documents, Li had been working on a breast cancer vaccine at MD Anderson since 2022 before abruptly resigning in July. Prosecutors alleged he uploaded nearly completed research to a Chinese server while still employed. Li was also found to have shared the data with a Chinese-based cloud service called Baidu, despite receiving funding from U.S. agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.
Documents revealed Li had been paid by Chinese entities and failed to disclose conflicts of interest, including grant funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and research collaborations with The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. A sworn statement attributed to Li admitted to retaining the data, stating, “I believe I have the right to possess and retain this data.”
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare emphasized that Houston’s medical institutions rely on public funding to advance life-saving research, declaring zero tolerance for actions threatening such efforts. Authorities stated they detained Li to prevent him from leaving the country with the intellectual property.
