LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A University of Michigan researcher accused of sneaking biological materials into the country is headed home to China after pleading guilty on Nov. 12—a case the federal judge overseeing it called “very strange.”

Yunqing Jian, 33, admitted to smuggling and making false statements but received no additional jail time beyond the five months she’s already served. She will be released and deported.

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Federal prosecutors said Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, had been studying a crop-damaging fungus known as Fusarium graminearum in China and continued their work in an unauthorized UM lab. Liu was previously caught at Detroit Metro Airport with samples in his luggage in 2024.

Bringing the pathogen into the U.S. requires a federal permit—one the university didn’t have. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Martin told the court the materials carried the potential for “devastating harm.”

“I don’t have evidence that she had evil intent,” Martin said. “But I don’t have evidence that she was doing this for the betterment of mankind either.”

Jian, brought into court in restraints, apologized briefly and deferred to a letter she’d filed with the court: “I did not follow the rules because I was under pressure to proceed with research and produce results,” she wrote. “The research was not to harm anyone, but instead to find ways to protect crops from disease.”

As part of the plea deal, a conspiracy charge was dropped. Jian admitted she’d arranged for a colleague in China to send her samples concealed in a book, a shipment that never made it past U.S. inspectors. Liu, her collaborator, remains in China and is not expected to return.