A Chinese researcher that worked for Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Ohio pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court over his role in a scheme to steal American trade secrets on behalf of the Chinese government. Researcher Yu Zhou is just one of many foreign researchers that have been caught attempting to smuggle American research to foreign governments in 2020.

According to a report by the College Fix, a 50-year-old researcher who worked for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Reserach Institute in Ohio has pled guilty after conspiring to steal trade secrets and sell them to the Chinese government. Yu Zhou reportedly sold cutting-edge American medical research to the Chinese government.

Breitbart News reported in August that Zhou’s wife, researcher Li Chen pled guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets and commit wire fraud. Both Zhou and his wife worked for nearly a decade at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. Chen admitted to selling research from the institute to the Chinese government for a profit.

The DOJ published a press release about Zhou’s plea on Friday. John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said that the Justice Department is working to ensure that research theft by agents of the Chinese government is put to a stop.

“Today’s plea underscores the Department of Justice’s commitment to protecting American research and trade secrets from those incentivized to steal them by Chinese Government programs,” Demers said.  “China’s endemic efforts to rob, replicate and replace products that they do not have the ability to develop themselves will not go unchecked, and those who seek to profit from the theft of trade secrets will be held accountable.”

Breitbart News has reported extensively on research theft at American universities and colleges. In September, researcher Hu Haizhou of the University of Virginia was arrested at Chicago O’Hare’s International Airport after trying to smuggle research to China.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.