Feds Say ‘Prolific’ State-Backed Chinese Hacker Finally In Their Clutches

The Trump administration announced charges on Tuesday against a Chinese national accused of stealing research from American universities and individuals on behalf of the Chinese government.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said 33-year-old Xu Zewei, whom it called a “prolific” state-backed hacker, was arrested in Italy on Thursday after the DOJ charged him in a November 2023 indictment that was previously sealed. Zewei claims his identity was mistaken and that someone else is responsible for hacking into computers at American universities and a law firm, Reuters reported.

Zewei worked in tandem with Chinese security agencies to steal research about COVID-19 from Americans between February 2020 and June 2021 while China “was simultaneously withholding information” from the world regarding the virus’s origins in the country, the DOJ alleged. The hacking allegedly targeted two unnamed universities in North Carolina and Texas that were studying COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, as well as another Texas university and a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Enrico Giarda, the Italian lawyer described in multiplereports