Italian police on Monday, July 7th, arrested a 33-year-old Chinese man wanted by the FBI on charges of industrial espionage, including alleged attempts to hack into projects related to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The man, identified as Xu Zewei from Shanghai, was detained last week upon his arrival at Milan’s Malpensa Airport. His arrest was carried out based on a U.S. warrant issued as part of an FBI investigation.
U.S. officials accuse Xu of being part of a hacking group that targeted the University of Texas in 2020, allegedly attempting to gain access to its COVID-19 vaccine research.
He is scheduled to appear in a Milan court for an extradition hearing on Tuesday.
The charges listed in the U.S. arrest warrant include wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and unauthorized access to protected computers.
