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.
Today, the FBI and @TheJusticeDept announced the arrest of a prolific hacker working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Xu Zewei and his co-conspirators stole COVID-19 research from U.S. universities and compromised thousands of computers worldwide: https://t.co/ri8j2X09mA pic.twitter.com/y8vlfthUrm
— FBI (@FBI) July 8, 2025
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 multiple reports as representing Zewei, did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Giarda has claimed in court that Zewei’s phone was stolen in 2020 and that someone else may have committed the crimes under his name.
“We are now waiting for the U.S. authorities to send us the investigation files so that we can understand how they came to identify him as the perpetrator,” Giarda said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
Zewei faces charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obtaining information by unauthorized access to protected computers, intentionally damaging protected computers, and other allegations, and could see decades in prison if he is convicted, the press release said. The DOJ is requesting his extradition to the U.S. from Italy.
“As this case shows, even if it takes years, we will track hackers down and make them answer for their crimes,” U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said. “The United States does not forget.”
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