California Business Owner Jia Bei Zhu Convicted of Selling Over a Million Faulty COVID-19 Tests

A federal jury convicted 64-year-old Chinese national Jia Bei Zhu of selling more than a million fraudulent COVID-19 tests nationwide. New York Post reported that Zhu fraudulently sold nearly $4 million worth of the faulty tests out of his Fresno-based company Universal Meditech Inc.

The jury found Zhu guilty on one count of making a false statement to the FDA, eight counts of substantive wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Between August 2020 and March 2023, Zhu, his romantic partner Zhaoyan Wang and others at Universal Meditech Inc conspired to import faulty COVID tests from China and sell them to customers based on lies. Zhu lied that the tests were approved by the FDA, that they were made in the USA, that they came from a certified lab and that they actually worked.

Trial evidence showed Zhu and Wang hired employees that wouldn’t ask questions.

Some employees knew the tests were fraudulent but were too afraid of losing their job or too scared of Zhu to stop selling them. The scheme was first uncovered in mid-2022 after one of his victims filed a civil lawsuit against Universal Meditech Inc. Authorities discovered an unsanitary facility lacking proper medical equipment to make tests at the Fresno lab.

They also found hundreds of boxes of COVID tests from China at the site. Zhu then moved the operation to a clandestine lab in Reedley, 20 miles south of Fresno. He changed the name of the lab and his own name and lied to authorities about his connection to Universal Meditech Inc or the new lab.

In December 2022 a Reedley code enforcement officer noticed a green garden hose protruding from a warehouse and discovered the illegal biolab. Zhu was arrested in October 2023. U.S.

Before Zhu’s arrest and remains a fugitive in China. U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said the verdict holds the defendant accountable for actions that exploited a public health crisis for his own gain. Grant added that Zhu flouted the lawful authority of the FDA and deliberately deceived the public by repackaging low-quality, foreign-made test kits at a time when accuracy and reliability were critical.

“This conduct, tied to the unlawful operations uncovered at the Reedley laboratory, put lives at risk," Grant stated. FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel said Zhu saw a public health crisis and chose to profit from it by misrepresenting the origin, quality, and FDA approval status of his tests with the intent to flood the market with misbranded medical devices. Zhu faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and each of the wire fraud charges.”

He faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison for the false statements charge and an additional three years in prison for the fraudulent devices. Zhu is scheduled to be sentenced on August 24.