A Chinese scientist hiding in the San Francisco consulate has been taken into custody on charges of visa fraud, according to senior government officials.
A senior Justice Department official told CNN that Chinese researcher Tang Juan “was a fugitive from justice until last night.”
Her arrest comes as government officials ordered Beijing to shut down its consulate in Houston over allegations that China has been running an espionage network through its diplomatic outposts in an effort to steal intellectual property from U.S. businesses, universities and research centers.
She is not facing espionage charges, according to CNN.
Earlier this week, prosecutors said Tang hid her connection to China’s military in order to gain entry in to the U.S. She lied to federal investigators about her ties to the Chinese military and subsequently tried to avoid arrest by taking refuge in the San Francisco consulate, according to CNN.
"Tang denied serving in the Chinese military, claimed she did not know the meaning of the insignia on her uniform, and that wearing a military uniform was required for attendance at FMMU because it was a military school," attorneys wrote in a July 20 court filing about her June 20th interview with FBI agents.
FBI investigators said they “discovered photographs of her in the uniform of the Civilian Cadre of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)" and that she had been employed as a researcher at the Fourth Military Medical University when they searched her home and computer.
She was charged with one count of visa fraud on June 26.
The U.S. officials also told CNN that China's Houston consulate was implicated in a fraud investigation at a Texas research institution. They said consulate officials "were directly involved in communications with researchers and guided them on what information to collect."
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