December 8, 2014
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler announced in a motion filed in a U.S. District Court that a case against two former Eli Lilly and Co. employees is being dropped. The news broke on Dec. 5 that the two scientists, who were accused of sharing trade secrets with a competitor, will no longer face criminal charges.
The case against the employees, Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, were dropped when the U.S. Department of Justice received information that “changed the investigative facts initially relied upon by the government.”
Looking Back to 2013
Last fall, Cao and Li were charged with fraud, which brought the case to the forefront of the biotechnology world. However, their charges of stealing confidential data were eventually changed to alleged wire fraud and conspiracy to attempt wire fraud.
The two scientists supposedly wanted Eli Lilly to create documents about its competitive intelligence team, communications between the government and the company, and information technology records. However, Eli Lilly claimed that there was too much sensitive information to move forward with the plan.
When Cao and Li were brought in for their initial charges, they were jailed, then eventually transferred to a halfway house. Afterward, they were released into home detention.
Moving Forward
Since the two have had their charges dropped, life has changed dramatically for both Cao and Li, according to the Indianapolis Star. As these court proceedings were unfolding, Li has been out of work and lost “a lot” during the entire ordeal, says his attorney, Scott Newman.
“I’m delighted Mr. Li has been vindicated completely,”Newman told the news source. “It’s a shame it took 15 months to get there. This man is completely innocent.”
Cao left Eli Lilly to join Jiangu Hengrui and works from home. Now that he has had the charges dismissed, he will be able to travel to China to complete portions of his job that require his presence overseas.
While the proceedings were underway, both scientists remained in the Indianapolis area. Following the news of the charges being dropped, Eli Lilly and Company released a statement, saying that it “has cooperated in response to requests from both the US Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the victim of crimes alleged in the indictment to have been committed by two former Lilly employees.”
