Police records obtained by GV Wire paint a clearer picture of jailed Reedley lab operator Jia Bei Zhu, his criminal past in Canada, connections to China, and contact with the property manager of his Las Vegas home raided in January for being another possible illegal biological threat.

In April, Zhu’s case will go to federal trial in Sacramento, where a jury will determine whether he is guilty of adulterating and misbranding medical devices, making false statements to authorities, and committing wire fraud.

Those charges only scratch the surface of Zhu’s history.

While the FBI continues to test biological and chemical materials found in the Las Vegas home connected to Zhu, a company defrauded by Zhu still seeks collection on a $330 million judgment in Canada against companies led by the Chinese national.

An attorney with the company, XY LLC, said he wouldn’t comment for this story as its litigation against Zhu remains in the courts.

Fresno attorney Tony Capozzi, who represents Zhu, did not respond to multiple requests by GV Wire for comment.

Court records, however, show Zhu, who has a master’s degree in cellular biology, came to North America in part to build up the Chinese dairy industry at the expense of the U.S.

Zhu, found guilty by a Canadian court of intellectual property theft “on an ‘epic scale,’ ” said his activities were intended to help “defeat the American aggressor and wild ambitious wolf.”

Zhu Built Reedley Biolab Despite Being Here Illegally: Congress

Fleeing a jail sentence and the Canadian court judgment against him, Zhu illegally came to the U.S. some time after 2016, according to court records. Yet he somehow acquired a California driver’s license and employment authorization card.

In a court transcript of a bail hearing in December 2024 in Fresno, Capozzi said Zhu left Canada in 2014. However, a report from U.S. Congress’ Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party contradicts that timeline.

Zhu’s absence from a 2016 sentencing hearing in Canada resulted in an arrest warrant that carried with it a six-month prison sentence.

The judge in the bail hearing also noted several other inconsistencies in Zhu’s testimony, including how much money he had and whether or not he had a child.

Las Vegas police say he changed his name to David He and despite being a wanted fugitive, he set up a new network of companies in the U.S. and acquired thousands of vials of biological materials and expensive medical machinery to set up a laboratory in Fresno.

Those materials included deadly diseases, subzero freezers, centrifuges, and about 1,000 lab mice.

Contents within a freezer labeled “ebola” later found in Reedley were never tested.

Other vials with labels in Mandarin and with codes also were never tested.

“He was able to acquire these apparent pathogens even though he was a wanted fugitive and operated an unlicensed and unregistered laboratory,” the Las Vegas police report stated.

Zhu Supporting Chinese Dairy Industry

During Zhu’s bail hearing, Capozzi argued that his client would be in danger if he were to return to China.

This despite his romantic partner — who is possibly his wife — going to China with his newborn child on a one-way ticket only days before Reedley authorities in 2023 executed a search warrant for the warehouse storing the contents of Universal Meditech Inc.

In the early 2000s, Zhu lived in the People’s Republic of China, where he served as vice chairman of the state-controlled enterprise Pioneer Aide Biological Engineering Company Limited, according to police records.

It should be noted that Capozzi in a court transcript said Zhu hasn’t lived in China since 1988. The select committee again disputes that, saying he oversaw Aide, which employed between 400 and 500 workers in Xinxiang.

Through that company, Zhu became primary shareholder of 11 state-owned cattle companies, the select committee stated. A court transcript from December 2024 states that Zhu still has active business interests in the enterprise, using those assets to purchase properties.

“This connection to cattle was important because, at some point while David managed these PRC businesses, he traveled to Canada and created dozens of companies in Canada, the PRC, and elsewhere,” the Las Vegas police report stated. “These companies engaged in massive theft of American cattle-related intellectual property, resulting in a CAD $330 million judgment.”

In documents obtained by the select committee, Zhu stated that through his actions he would fuel the “rapid growth” of the Chinese dairy industry.

A business plan acquired by the select committee shows that a Zhu company, IND Lifetech Group, sought to fulfill then-Premier Wen Jiabao’s wish to “provide every Chinese, especially children, sufficient milk each day.” A later business plan estimates Zhu brought $1.37 billion in combined assets to the PRC.

Many Questions About Zhu’s US Operations

At some point, Zhu switched his interests from cattle to humans. Despite having vials of COVID-19, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases, the reasons why Universal Meditech Inc. had those diseases on hand is unclear.

Evidence from the select committee suggests that out of UMI’s Fresno facility, the primary work was repackaging counterfeit COVID tests, relabeling them as U.S.-made, and selling them to American consumers.

“Moreover, there is little to no market for test kits that would test the majority of the pathogens that the Reedley Biolab appeared to contain, let alone test kits created in an unlicensed laboratory,” the select committee report states.

Limited financial records for Zhu also show him receiving at least $1.3 million from the PRC, which doesn’t match up with the company’s mission — an indicator of possible money laundering.

“These payments do not accord with Zhu’s fraudulent activity, as he should have been paying money to PRC firms for the test kits,” the report states.

Prestige Biotech Attempts Another Lab in Vegas

UMI’s lab operations appear to have extended to Las Vegas. On April 4, 2023, as Reedley officials were still dealing with the contents of the biolab there, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services received an application for a diagnostic lab from UMI’s parent company, Prestige Biotech. Zhu’s romantic partner Zhaoyan Wang — who moved to China — is listed as 100% owner of Prestige.

A housekeeper told the FBI that Zhu was operating a lab in Las Vegas before the Reedley lab discovery.

Following a shakeup of management with Prestige, the company withdrew its application, Las Vegas police records state.

At some point, property manager Ori Solomon directed a maintenance worker to move materials from the lab’s location to a short-term rental owned by David Destiny Discovery LLC that police later raided. Business records show David He — Zhu’s alias — as agent of record.

Solomon was the property manager for two short-term rentals connected to Zhu. Court transcripts named Solomon as a possible administrator for Zhu’s estate. Wang is said to be monitoring the property from China.

Police records state that in one year’s time, Zhu made 467 calls to Solomon from Taft Correctional Institute, where he is held awaiting trial.

That housekeeper, knowing about the Reedley biolab, contacted authorities on Jan. 9, Las Vegas police records show. Solomon mostly kept the garage locked, but one time the housekeeper and a  maintenance worker got inside. They both reported becoming ill days after.

The housekeeper also that said many living inside the house reported getting sick.

“One female ended up in the hospital with severe respiratory issues. (The housekeeper) also noted when she was cleaning the house there would be many dead crickets found in the master bedroom,” the police report states.

In addition, the report states that power usage at the two homes police raided exceeded normal levels, matching levels used by homes manufacturing narcotics.

Zhu’s Network of Companies

Attorneys for Zhu have long disputed his connection to UMI and Prestige Biotech, referring to him as only a consultant to the companies.

Employees however, called him the leader, according to the congressional select committee’s report.

That report also noted the strategy matched that used by Zhu in Canada. While partnering with XY, Zhu created a network of companies.

Authorities similarly confirmed that Zhu and He were the same person — a fact revealed by many of Zhu’s workers.

In 2023, a Hong Kong court cleared at least one hurdle for XY to pursue compensation through a company connected to Zhu.