A woman who worked at Nationwide Childrens Hospital for a decade has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets.
Li Chen, formerly of Dublin, worked as a researcher at Nationwide Children's from 2008 to 2018. In a recently unsealed plea agreement, Chen admitted that she and her husband, Yu Zhou, who also worked at the hospital, used trade secrets to establish a company in China.
U.S. Attorney David Devillers says the proprietary information helped them develop kits for identifying and treating different medical conditions. Chen received support from the Chinese government in setting up the business. Under the plea deal, Chen will forfeit nearly $1.5 million dollars, and more than $1 million dollars’ worth of stock and options.
Earlier this month Devillers brought charges against a different researcher at Ohio State who allegedly funneled information to China from research funded by National Institutes of Health.
