Federal trial on track for UC Davis researcher charged with visa fraud

A July jury trial is still on track for a 38-year-old former University of California, Davis, researcher charged last year 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 by a federal grand jury in August, appeared April 4 in a Sacramento courtroom for a status conference. She is represented by three attorneys: Malcolm S. Segal, Patrick Wong, and Thomas A. Johnson.

Judge John A. Mendez, who earlier vacated a previous trial date, has ordered Tang, who is out of custody on a $750,000 bond, to return for a trial confirmation hearing at 9:30 a.m. June 1 and a jury trial at 9 a.m. July 12 in courtroom No. 6 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heiko P. Coppola leads the prosecution.

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 last year 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 nonimmigrant visa for people approved to participate in work-study-based programs in the United States.

Tang (pronounced “tongue”) is alleged to have received the visa after making false statements during the application process about her work for China’s military, concealing her ties to her nation’s armed forces so she could work in theU.S.

When later interviewed by FBI agents, Tang reportedly again made false statements about her military service. Specifically, U.S. authorities allege that Tang is a current member of the Chinese Air Force.

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. (Chinese nationals typically are called by their last names first, but sometimes, on official U.S. documents, they are called by their first, then last names, as Americans are.)

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 U.S. 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 on 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