Federal authorities have accused another Chinese researcher of smuggling biological materials into the United States, as the FBI cautions American universities about growing threats from the communist nation.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that Chinese national Youhuang Xiang was arrested for allegedly smuggling genetic material from E. coli bacteria into the United States while working as a researcher at Indiana University. According to court documents, Xiang entered the country in 2023 on an educational exchange visa to secure a postdoctoral position at the school.

“This is yet another example of a researcher from China — given the privilege to work at a U.S. university — who then allegedly chose to take part in a scheme to circumvent U.S. laws and receive biological materials hidden in a package originating from China,” Patel posted on X. “The [FBI] and our CBP partners are committed to enforcing U.S. laws put in place to protect against this global threat to our economy and food supply. If not properly controlled, E. coli and other biological materials could inflict devastating disease to U.S. crops and cause significant financial loss to the U.S. economy.”

Xiang has been charged with conspiracy to commit smuggling, smuggling, and making false statements. He could face up to 20 years in prison and fines totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars if convicted. James Tunick, Xiang’s lawyer, disputed the allegations.

“Youhuang Xiang was legally working in the United States on a J-1 visa with a professor from the Biology Department at Indiana University to better wheat crop production in the United States,” Tunick told The Daily Wire. “The allegation that Youhuang smuggled E. coli into the United States is completely false and is not even charged by the United States Department of Justice.”

Xiang, whose bio says he specializes in “recognition specificity in host-pathogen interactions and engineering crop resistance to pathogen,” was first arrested on November 25. Information about the case was unsealed this week. 

In March 2024, Xiang requested that a person in China referred to as “Individual A” ship plasmid DNA from E. coli bacteria to his home in Bloomington, Indiana, according to the indictment. The material was shipped to him shortly after, concealed in a package of clothing items that “Individual A” declared included a men’s vest and women’s underwear, investigators said. The package allegedly came from Guangzhou Sci Tech Innovation Trading.

More than a year later, on November 23, 2025, Xiang landed in Chicago after returning from a trip to London, where agents with Customs and Border Protection questioned him. During that interview, he allegedly lied to them about the package he had sent to his home and about his ties to the Chinese government. 

Xiang was scheduled to remain at Indiana University through 2027 and was leading a research program focused on genome editing in wheat plants to increase resistance to fungal diseases.

The FBI was made aware of the shipment by CBP as part of an investigation into biological materials being smuggled into the United States from China, which is why he was questioned on November 23. 

“Information provided to the FBI by CBP included information about the history of shipments from China to certain individuals at IU conducting research into wheat pathogen Resistance,” the criminal complaint said. “That information indicated that XIANG was associated with that research and that XIANG received a shipment from China at his residence on March 28, 2024.”

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The FBI also thought it was “odd” that Xiang purchased and shipped “women’s underwear from China, and further assessed it as peculiar that a company by the name ‘Guangzhou Sci Tech Innovation Trading’ would sell underwear or clothing,” according to the complaint. 

A paper written by Xiang also listed his affiliation with the National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics in Shanghai, which raised flags for investigators. 

“I know from my training and experience that the PRC ‘Key Laboratories’ are overseen by the Chinese Government and have a history of concerning actions including technology transfer and theft of intellectual property,” the FBI agent who investigated the case wrote in the criminal complaint. 

Over the last few months, other Chinese researchers at American universities have been arrested for smuggling biological materials into the country. Multiple arrests have been made at the University of Michigan, where investigators said that shipments of concealed biological materials related to roundworms were smuggled into the United States. 

President Donald Trump has faced criticism over the presence of Chinese students at American universities. While some critics have called for reducing the number of Chinese nationals admitted to U.S. schools, Trump has argued that their enrollment helps provide funding for American institutions.

Ben Shapiro has simple advice for how disaffected young men can turn around their lives: “Get off your ass and go do the thing.”

Speaking to The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan at Turning Point USA’s AmFest on Thursday night, the Daily Wire Editor Emeritus was asked how men should respond to a culture that “rejects masculinity.” He said there are obstacles that need to be removed, but ultimately that men are in control of their own success.

“I think first of all we need to remove the obstacles for them,” Shapiro said. “The Trump administration has done a great job of fighting DEI, but they need to unleash the DOJ on anybody who’s violating the Civil Rights Act of 65 with regard to young white men, for sure.”

“And then, we need to say something to young men: get off your ass and go do the thing,” he declared. “Seriously. Stop telling all young white men that all of their grievances — when it comes to making basic, good decisions for their lives — are justified. Those decisions are not always justified. Here are things you can do: Finish high school. Get a job. Get married. Have kids. Go to church. Those are all in your control. You pretending those things are not in your control is grievance culture bulls***. And all the politicians who pander to that sort of stuff are making people’s lives actively worse.”

Shapiro has been preaching that message for nearly a decade; in his speech at UC Berkeley in September 2017, when the city spent $600,000 for security involving hundreds of police, he told the crowd, “Here are the three rules that you need to fulfill as a person before you can start complaining about your life failures being the result of somebody else’s actions.”

“Number one, you need to finish high school. Number two: you need to get married before you have babies. Number three: You need to get a job.”

The remarks came ahead of Shapiro’s speech on the main stage of the Turning Point USA event, where he laid out the importance of “truth” in conservatism.