Chinese Researcher to Plead Guilty in Harvard Cancer-Cell Case
This article is for subscribers only.
A Harvard-sponsored Chinese researcher accused by U.S. officials of trying to smuggle 21 vials of cancer cells taken from a Boston hospital has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and will be permitted to return to China, federal prosecutors said.
Smuggling charges will be dropped against Zaosong Zheng in exchange for his plea to one count of making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, who found the vials stashed in a sock in his luggage before a flight to Beijing, according to a court filing Tuesday in Boston. The government will recommend a judge order his immediate removal from the U.S.