A 33-year-old Chinese national was arrested in Italy at the request of U.S. authorities, who have charged him with allegedly hacking American COVID-19 research on behalf of the Chinese government, the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Xu Zewei’s arrest comes amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the origins of COVID-19, which first emerged in China in late 2019 before spreading worldwide, claiming millions of lives and causing widespread economic disruption, Newsweek reported.
“The announcement of charges against Xu is the latest describing the PRC’s use of an extensive network of private companies and contractors in China to hack and steal information in a manner that obscured the PRC government’s involvement,” the DOJ said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the DOJ, Xu is accused of hacking U.S. universities, as well as immunologists and virologists involved in COVID-19 vaccine, treatment, and testing research.
Xu and his alleged co-conspirator, Zhang Yu, were arrested in Italy on July 3 and have been charged in a nine-count indictment unsealed in the Southern District of Texas, according to the DOJ.
The statement alleges that Xu carried out the hacking at the direction of the MSS Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB), with the cyberattacks believed to have occurred between February 2020 and June 2021.
Meanwhile, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for possible misconduct related to the Trump–Russia investigation, including allegations of making false statements to Congress, according to Justice Department sources who spoke with Fox News Digital.
Sources also revealed that current CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of potential wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for possible prosecution.
Regarding James Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former FBI director is also underway, though they declined to disclose specific details about the focus of the probe.
The full extent of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey remains unclear, but two sources described the FBI’s assessment of their actions as a possible “conspiracy”—a designation that could significantly broaden the range of potential charges, Fox added.
The investigation into Brennan follows CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent declassification of a “lessons learned” review examining the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). That assessment claimed Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to benefit then-candidate Donald Trump.
However, the review concluded that the ICA’s development was rushed, marred by “procedural anomalies,” and deviated from established intelligence standards, Fox noted.
It also found that the “decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
The dossier—an anti-Trump document riddled with unverified and debunked claims, commissioned by Fusion GPS and funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee—has been widely discredited. Last week’s review marked the first time career CIA officials acknowledged that the process behind the drafting of the ICA was politicized, particularly by political appointees from the Obama administration.
Declassified records from the recent review confirmed that Brennan actively pushed for the Steele dossier to be included in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
However, in May 2023 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Brennan claimed he did not believe the dossier should have been part of the assessment. The false statements investigation now centers on a newly declassified email sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December 2016, warning that including the dossier in any form would jeopardize “the credibility of the entire paper.”
The Trump White House wants the Obama-era intelligence officials to be held accountable.
“President Trump was right — again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Those who engaged in this political scandal must be held accountable for the fraud they committed against President Trump and the lies they told to the American people.”