Chinese Researcher Sentenced for Smuggling E. Coli From China to US

The defendant ‘intentionally exploited his access to laboratory facilities at one of Indiana’s flagship research universities,’ a U.S. attorney said.

The Department of Justice in Washington on March 11, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

A former Chinese biology researcher at Indiana University Bloomington has been sentenced for smuggling DNA samples of E. coli bacteria into the United States from China, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced on April 10.

Xiang Youhuang, 32, who was in the United States on a J-1 nonimmigrant visa from China, was indicted in December 2025. On April 7, he was sentenced to time served, or more than four months, a $500 fine, and one year of supervised release, after pleading guilty to one count of smuggling and accepting a judicial order of removal to China.