Juan Tang, a former University of California, Davis (UC Davis) researcher, was arraigned on Aug. 10 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund Brennan at the United States District Court in Sacramento, California.
She allegedly obtained a J-1 visa by making false statements, claiming she was not part of the Chinese military and did not serve it.
Judge Brennan read her indictments and the penalties she will be given if convicted.
According to Heiko Coppola, the assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case, the government seized about 260 GB of data or 2.8 million files across four devices.
The defendant’s new lawyer, Malcolm Segal, will review the files. Segal asked to present the case again around four weeks later.
The defendant pleaded not guilty.
The next hearing is set for Sept. 1 at 9:15 a.m. before Judge John Mendez.
Penalties for visa fraud (first count) are a maximum of 10 years in prison or a fine of $250,000, or both fine and imprisonment and a supervised release of up to 3 years.
Penalties for making false statements (second count) is a maximum of 5 years in prison or a fine of $250,000, or both fine and imprisonment and a supervised release of up to 2 years.
Both penalties have a $100 special assessment fee.
