RESOLUTION OF CRIMINAL CHARGES REACHED WITH FORMER HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL RESEARCH FELLOWS

Boston, MA...United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, today announced the filing of a Pretrial Diversion Agreement resolving criminal charges against two former Harvard Medical School research fellows, JIANGYU ZHU, age 34, and KAYOKO KIMBARA, age 36, both of San Diego, California.

ZHU and KIMBARA were arrested in 2002 and subsequently charged by indictment in June 2005 with the interstate transportation of stolen property. The charges arose out of ZHU’s and KIMBARA’s alleged theft of scientific materials from a Harvard Medical School laboratory where they worked as post-doctoral research fellows.

Pursuant to the terms of the Pretrial Diversion Agreement filed today in federal court, ZHU and KIMBARA have admitted to removing at least twenty cartons of materials from the Harvard laboratory, including research, data, and various biologicals, and arranging for the shipment of those materials to the University of Texas in San Antonio, where ZHU had accepted a position to run his own lab. ZHU and KIMBARA removed the materials at night and in the early morning hours between December 27, 1999 and January 1, 2000. At the time, ZHU had not disclosed to the supervising faculty in the Harvard laboratory his acceptance of a position at the University of Texas.

ZHU and KIMBARA have admitted that the nature and quantity of the materials that they removed from the Harvard laboratory exceeded that which would have been customary for post-doctoral fellows to take to a new post; that they knew they did not have permission from Harvard to remove such materials; that they knew such permission was needed given the nature and quantity of what they were taking; and that they acted intentionally in removing the materials anyway. Through the foregoing conduct, ZHU and KIMBARA have acknowledged that they knowingly and willfully transported from Massachusetts to Texas goods of a value exceeding $5,000, knowing that such goods had been converted from Harvard.

Harvard learned of the removal of the materials when other researchers returned to the Harvard laboratory following the New Year’s holiday and discovered that the materials had been taken. Representatives from Harvard subsequently questioned ZHU and KIMBARA. ZHU has admitted that during that interview, he falsely stated that nothing had been removed from the laboratory.

In or about June, 2000, representatives from Harvard University, acting with the consent of the University of Texas, located in ZHU’s Texas laboratory materials that ZHU and KIMBARA had removed and transported from the Harvard laboratory. Those materials included over 1,300 biologicals, which subsequently were returned from Texas to Harvard.

Pursuant to the terms of the Pretrial Diversion Agreement, prosecution of ZHU and KIMBARA on the charges contained in the pending indictment will be deferred for a period of one year. If ZHU and KIMBARA comply with all terms of the agreement during that period, the indictment will then be dismissed.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Pineault of Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit, Robert E. Wallace of the Department of Justice, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison D. Burroughs.

Press Contact: Christina Dilorio-Sterling, (617) 748-3356