The years-long saga surrounding the infamous illegal biolab discovered in Reedley, California, took another major turn Wednesday, as a federal jury convicted Jia Bei Zhu — the CCP-linked Chinese national at the center of the operation — on 12 felony counts.
Readers will recall RedState's prior reporting on Zhu and the Reedley lab scandal, which first exploded into public view after local officials uncovered a bizarre and deeply troubling operation inside a warehouse. Reedley Code Enforcement Officer Jessalyn Harper stumbled upon the lab after seeing a garden hose coming out of the wall of a building that was supposedly vacant. Once inside, Harper found mice, pathogens, improperly stored biological materials, and mountains of questionable medical supplies, all connected to Zhu, who was operating under multiple company names and personal aliases.
Zhu, 64, was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, multiple counts of wire fraud, distributing adulterated and misbranded medical devices, and lying to the FDA. Prosecutors said Zhu used his Fresno-based company, Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI), to sell more than one million COVID tests that generated nearly $4 million in revenue while falsely claiming the tests were FDA-approved, American-made, and reliable.
Federal prosecutors described the scheme in stark terms. U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said:
“This verdict holds the defendant accountable for actions that exploited a public health crisis for his own gain. He flouted the lawful authority of the FDA and deliberately deceived the public by repackaging low-quality, foreign-made test kits at a time when accuracy and reliability were critical.”
According to trial evidence, Zhu and his associates imported faulty COVID tests from China between 2020 and 2023, then marketed them using false claims that the tests were FDA-authorized, manufactured in the United States, and produced in conjunction with certified medical labs.
The government even introduced screenshots of UMI marketing materials touting “FDA EUA APPROVED” COVID antibody tests and boasting the products were “MADE IN THE U.S.A.” despite import/export documentation showing they were imported from China.
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Employees testified that Zhu deliberately hired inexperienced workers — including former cellphone salespeople, supermarket workers, childcare workers, and stay-at-home parents — because they would be less likely to question his instructions. According to evidence presented at trial, some employees were hired through the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, a public organization that helps find jobs for unskilled workers and provides significant subsidies to employers that hire them.
Some workers testified they knew they were making false claims to customers but feared losing their jobs or even suffering physical retaliation from Zhu if they refused.
Victims who purchased the tests also testified that some kits arrived missing basic components and failed to detect COVID entirely.
One new detail brought out in court is that, in addition Code Enforcement Officer Harper's December 2022 discovery of the lab, a mid-2022 civil lawsuit against one of Zhu's companies was already bringing attention to his misdeeds. From the DOJ's press release:
Zhu’s scheme was first revealed in mid-2022 when one of the victims filed a civil lawsuit against UMI and performed a court-ordered inspection of UMI’s Fresno facility. The inspection showed that UMI lacked the ability to manufacture COVID tests and that it was nothing more than an unsanitary warehouse that was far below established quality standards for facilities that house medical devices. For example, there was vivarium that was not sealed off from the rest of the facility and multiple fridges with pathogens and toxins in juice, soda, and other inappropriate containers. A vivarium is supposed to be a dedicated space for housing and studying living animals in controlled environments.
Authorities described discovering “multiple fridges with pathogens and toxins in juice, soda, and other inappropriate containers” inside the Fresno facility. Images included in the DOJ release show biological materials allegedly stored in ordinary beverage containers, including iced tea and cranberry juice jugs — visuals likely to fuel additional public concern about the operation’s safety practices.
After that inspection, and a fire at that facility caused by poor electrical modifications performed at Zhu's direction, Zhu quickly moved his operations to the vacant warehouse in Reedley.
The DOJ claims that the pathogens and toxins “did not pose any risk to humans” and were tied to what investigators characterized as a failed effort to manufacture COVID tests; however, despite the best efforts of officials in Reedley, none of the items discovered in the lab were tested by federal law enforcement officials or the Biden-era FDA.
Zhu now faces potentially decades in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August 24 before U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd.
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