Yunhai Li, 35, was stopped by customs officials at Houston Airport on July 9 as he tried to board a flight back to China having resigned the lab after 3 year, on July 1

Li is charged with theft of trade secrets, a felony, and tampering with a government record, after investigators found research on a breast cancer vaccine he was developing on his laptop

Federal charges of wire fraud, theft of federal funds and abuse of official capacity, could be tacked on

In US on a scholar visa, Li worked at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Research lab in Houston as a postdoctoral fellow since 2022

The vaccine research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, with a Non Disclosure Agreement

He confessed in a sworn statement to police that he stole the research because he felt his work was ‘going to waste’

The research ‘is a product of my efforts over the last three years. I believe I have a right to possess and retain this data’, Li insists

He faces up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 for the state felony charge alone and another year for the misdemeanor charge if convicted

Houston based Chinese cancer doctor Yunhai Li, [photo], has been accused of trying to steal sensitive research from an American medical lab and take it back to his home country

A Chinese cancer doctor engaged in government funded research has been accused of trying to steal sensitive research from an American medical lab with the intention of spiriting it back to his home country.
Dr. Yunhai Li was taken into custody at Bush Intercontinental Airport on July 9, as he was leaving the United States for good.
Li, 35, was stopped by customs officials at Houston Airport as he was about to board a flight back to China. Li investigators said, was trying to travel to China with sensitive medical records.
The evidence of the purloined research data was discovered in his luggage during an inspection an inspection of his laptop by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in coordination with Homeland Security Investigations.
At the time Li was released, only to be arrested on Friday, charged with theft of trade secrets, a felony, and tampering with a government record, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. 
Li who entered the US on a scholar visa, had been working at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Research lab in Houston as a postdoctoral fellow since 2022.
Working on research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, technically makes a government employee. When he signed a non-disclosure agreement on joining the lab, he claimed he had neither foreign research affiliations nor funding.

Yunhai Li had been working at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Research lab in Houston as a postdoctoral fellow since 2022. He resigned abruptly on July 1

Li according to the affidavit, has been receiving funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and he has been secretly doing research for Chongqing Medical University.
Following his arrest, Li confessed in a sworn statement to police that he stole the research because he felt his work was ‘going to waste’, authorities revealed, insisting the research ‘is a product of my efforts over the last three years. I believe I have a right to possess and retain this data’.
Li admitted he previously downloaded 90 gigabytes of research data when the project was about 70 percent complete, which he uploaded to Chinese cloud service Baidu.
When administrators at the Houston lab confronted him, he convinced them he had deleted the data while concealing it on the Baidu server.
The rogue researcher then abruptly quit on July 1 and began preparing to go back to China to continue the project at Chongqing Medical University.

Dr. Yunhai Li, 35, is accused of trying to steal sensitive breast cancer research from an American medical lab and flee the country. Li admitted previously downloading 90 gigabytes of research data when the project was about 70 percent complete, which he uploaded to Chinese cloud service Baidu

He claimed his boss there had contacted the NIH and MD Anderson administrators on his behalf to get permission for him to continue the project in China, but hadn’t heard back.
Li wrote that he feared the request would be denied, so he stole the data.
‘Li added that he was hoping that CBP would not discover this information on his electronics,’ the affidavit said. 
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Li could face further charges, as the two existing counts aim to stop him fleeing to China.
‘We were able to detain him as he was trying to get on a flight to China,’ Teare said.
‘There was a pretty good chance that he was going to get deported or leave the country – so we needed to file something. 
‘We needed to make sure that he was going to stay here, the information was going to stay here, and he was going to be held accountable.
‘We’re not done with the investigation in this case. We know we have enough to get past probable cause, but we have a lot of avenues we have to go down to make sure that everyone involved is held accountable.’
The affidavit revealed Li is also under federal investigation and could face federal charges of wire fraud, theft of federal funds and abuse of official capacity.
Li faces two to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 for the state felony charge alone and another year for the misdemeanor charge. For now he is released on $5,000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport.