Another secret Chinese biolab found on US soil?
Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images
McMahill noted further that “the home was owned by the same individual connected to a prior, illegal bio-lab investigation in Reedley, California, that occurred in 2023.”
That individual is Jia Bei Zhu.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party noted in its report on the Reedley biolab that the California lab operated under the direction and control of Zhu, a Chinese citizen associated with communist regime-linked companies as well with Chinese military-civil fusion entities.
‘This can’t keep happening.’
Zhu, a wanted fugitive from Canada, where he is the subject of a $330 million judgment for stealing American intellectual property, illegally entered the United States under the false identity of “David He,” said the report.
While unlawfully in the U.S., Zhu set up a network of companies and accumulated a vast supply of potential pathogens including including Ebola, COVID-19, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, which he is accused of keeping and poorly storing at one or more unlicensed and unregistered labs.
In addition to thousands of samples of potentially dangerous diseases and hundreds of boxes of medical devices subject to a U.S. Food and Drug embargo, the Reedley lab was home to roughly 1,000 mice that were genetically engineered to mimic the human immune system.
One lab worker reportedly told local officials that the transgenic mice were altered “to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.” Dead mice were apparently disposed of “without the use of a licensed medical waste hauler.”
According to the congressional report, the Reedley biolab received millions of dollars in unexplained payments from Chinese communist banks.
Zhu was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 19, 2023, and indicted the following month for allegedly distributing adulterated and misbranded COVID-19 test kits and making false statements to authorities about his identity. He was slapped with additional charges in 2024 for alleged conspiracy and wire fraud.
Zhaoyan Wang, Zhu’s supposed lover and business partner, was charged with helping facilitate the alleged fraud through Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc. — biolabs she operated in Reedley and Fresno. Wang is also a Chinese national.
McMahill indicated that Zhu, who has a trial hearing scheduled for Feb. 23, remains in federal custody.
The LVMPD also arrested the property manager of the Vegas residence, 55-year-old Ori Solomon, on a charge of disposing and discharging hazardous waste. Solomon was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
On Saturday, the FBI searched a second Vegas home on Temple View Drive but found no threat at the location. The FBI also revisited the Reedley lab on Sunday, reported KFSN-TV.
Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said in response to the latest lab discovery, “This can’t keep happening.”
“The federal government must do more to stop illegal labs from operating in our communities,” added Kiley.
Kiley and fellow California Reps. Jim Costa (D) and David Valadao (R) have called for a hearing on their Preventing Illegal Laboratories and Protecting Public Health Act of 2025.
Editor’s note: The headline of this article has been edited after publication for clarity.
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