that it was illegal for the CDC to test any samples that were not expressly labeled as a Select Agent. City Manager Nicole Zieba expressed shock at this fact. She asked whether, if that were the case, the CDC had any authority to stop a terrorist in the United States who simply removed the label off a vial of a deadly virus. The CDC official said that the CDC had no authority to test the deadly virus in that hypothetical and that it was a noted gap in its authority.[1] This characterization of the CDC’s authority appears to be false.[2]
II. The Reedley Biolab, Jesse Zhu, and the People’s Republic of China
The Reedley Biolab operated under the direction and control of Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, through the corporation Universal Meditech Incorporated (UMI).[3] UMI owned and operated the Reedley Biolab. Zhu is a PRC citizen[4] associated with PRC-government linked companies.[5] He is currently wanted in Canada for contempt of court, where he is the subject of a CAD $330 million judgment for stealing American intellectual property. Zhu appears to have fled the Canadian courts and entered the United States unlawfully given that he had an active arrest warrant in Canada, assuming the false identity of “David He.” Zhu then set up a new network of companies. Zhu appears to have accumulated thousands of vials labeled as dangerous pathogens, as well as expensive medical equipment. Based on the labeling found at the lab by local officials after the CDC’s inspection, the Reedley Biolab operators may have possessed the Ebola virus, one of the deadliest viruses known to humanity. He was able to acquire these apparent pathogens even though he was a wanted fugitive and operated an unlicensed and unregistered laboratory.
A. Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu Leads PRC Government-Controlled and Directed Companies in the PRC
While living in the PRC in the early 2000s, Zhu served as the Vice Chairman of a PRC state-controlled enterprise based in Xinxiang, Henan Pioneer Aide Biological Engineering Company Limited (“Pioneer Aide China”). PRC government entities exercised a controlling interest in Pioneer Aide China as
- ↑ Information obtained through Select Committee conversation with local officials.
- ↑ See, e.g., John Lancaster and Susan Schmidt, When anthrax-laced letters terrorized Washington and New York (Oct. 24, 2018, 1:02 PM) (describing how CDC officials tested unlabeled suspected anthrax spores).
- ↑ Zhu employed many passthrough and shell companies as part of his ventures. This behavior continued in his management of the Reedley Biolab, where he created other corporations such as Prestige Biotech to obfuscate the true actors involved. For ease of reference, this report will hereafter refer to UMI and all its affiliated and associated entities as “UMI.”
- ↑ United States v. Jia Bei Zhu, No. 1:23-MJ-00123-SKO, (E.D. Cal. Oct. 18, 2023) (Criminal Complaint) (“Customs and Border Patrol records show that [Zhu] is a citizen of China”).
- ↑ See Figures 17-20, infra.
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