Chinese doctor accused of trying to smuggle cancer research from US to China

The suspect has been identified as 35-year-old Yunhai Li.

According to reports, he was confronted at an airport by officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection on July 9 when he was attempting to travel to China.

Speaking on the incident, Harris County District Attorney’s Office wrote on X: "Former MD Anderson cancer researcher Yunhai Li charged with Theft of Trade Secrets (third degree felony) and Tampering with a Government Record (class A misdemeanor). "

The X post further said: "Theft of Trade Secrets carries a penalty of two to ten years in prison and fines up to $10,000. Tampering with a Government Record is punishable with up to a year in jail and a $4,000."

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told Fox26 Houston: "We were able to detain him as he was trying to get on a flight to China."

The official further said: "That intellectual property stays with us, so we can save lives."

Court documents viewed by Fox26Houston said Li uploaded sensitive data to his personal Google Drive account while working for MD Anderson, and when the institution found out about it and confronted him, he deleted the files.

However, the documents added that Li also uploaded the data to a file-hosting service based on a Chinese server. 

On that storage drive, investigators found "unpublished research data and articles representing trade secrets, including material-restricted confidential research data, writings, drawings and models," according to Fox26 Houston.

The researcher reportedly posted $5,100 bail and bonded out of jail on Monday.

According to reports, he has surrendered his passport.