Two NIH Researchers Charged With Smuggling Monkeypox Virus Into US

Two foreign nationals working at the National Institutes of Health face federal charges for smuggling the monkeypox virus into the United States and lying about it on customs forms, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The defendants, identified in the Eastern District of Michigan indictment as foreign nationals employed at NIH facilities, allegedly brought the virus into the country without proper declaration or permits and then provided false information to border officials. The charges include smuggling and making false statements, statutes that carry potential prison time and fines.

The case directly affects NIH’s network of research laboratories that handle select agents and high-consequence pathogens. NIH operates dozens of BSL-3 and BSL-4 capable facilities that conduct vaccine, antiviral and diagnostic research; the two charged individuals represent the first known criminal prosecution tied to internal NIH personnel smuggling a live virus across the border.

The indictment shifts NIH’s operational posture on biosafety compliance. Prior to the charges, foreign-national researchers at NIH followed standard declaration procedures for biological materials; the new criminal case now requires the agency to audit all recent inbound shipments by foreign staff, update training modules on select-agent import rules, and tighten vetting for researchers with access to monkeypox, smallpox and related orthopoxviruses.

The review must occur before any new foreign-national hires receive unescorted laboratory access, per standard federal select-agent regulations enforced by the CDC and USDA.

Downstream, the prosecution obliges NIH to report findings to the HHS Office of Inspector General and Congress within existing oversight timelines. It also activates mandatory notifications to the Federal Select Agent Program, which can impose administrative restrictions on the laboratories involved.

Funding streams tied to those labs remain unaffected for now, but any identified gaps in screening could prompt conditions on future NIH appropriations.

This marks the first public Justice Department enforcement action against NIH employees for smuggling the monkeypox virus since the 2022 global mpox outbreak that prompted expanded domestic testing and vaccine distribution. The charges were filed in the Eastern District of Michigan, where the defendants allegedly entered the United States.