Las Vegas Suspected Biolab Links to Chinese National

A Chinese businessman behind bars at a minimum security prison in California is now the prime suspect behind a newly uncovered biolab hundreds of miles away in a peaceful Las Vegas neighborhood.

Jia Bei Zhu, a Chinese national also known as Jesse Zhu and Qiang “David” He, is awaiting trial on charges related to another illegal biolab discovered in Reedley, California, in 2022.

A tip from a house cleaner led to the Jan. 31 raid of a Las Vegas residence in which the suspected illegal biolab was discovered in a locked garage. The house is one of several properties in the Las Vegas area owned by Zhu or his associates.

The FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department discovered more than 1,000 pieces of evidence, including vials and containers of unknown liquids and other substances, authorities said.

The raid was based on “court filings, available evidence, and financial tracing,” FBI Director Kash Patel told The Epoch Times in a written statement.

“We’ve already taken decisive action, from arresting academic researchers who allegedly smuggled dangerous biochemicals into an American university, to executing large-scale gang takedowns where supply lines traced back to China,” Patel said.

In 2025, several Chinese nationals studying at the University of Michigan were charged with smuggling biochemicals from China into the United States.

Court filings obtained by The Epoch Times listed Zhu, 64, as the No. 1 suspect in the Las Vegas state criminal investigation, followed by his business and romantic partner, Wang Zhaoyan, and her mother, Yao Xiuqin.

After earning a master’s degree in cell biology from Peking Union Medical College Hospital in 1988, Zhu cofounded Canadian biotech company International Newtech Development in 1991. He was primarily engaged in product development for immunology and diagnostics, according to court documents.

Zhu and several of his companies have been mired in legal battles, stretching from Canada to Hong Kong and to the United States, since 2008.

He is currently awaiting an April trial in a Sacramento court on charges of distributing adulterated and misbranded medical devices and providing false statements to government authorities. 

The Epoch Times contacted Zhu’s attorney for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Calls From Behind Bars

Between Jan. 1, 2025, and Jan. 23, 2026, he made or attempted almost 7,000 phone calls from Taft Modified Community Correctional Facility, a low-security prison in Kern County, California.

More than 3,500 of those calls were conversations in Mandarin with Wang, who is believed to be married to Zhu and currently living in China with the couple’s infant child after she absconded from a federal indictment, according to the court filings.

Zhu also made a total of 467 calls or attempted calls to his property manager, Ori Solomon. Solomon’s responsibilities included moving and hiding medical laboratory materials and equipment, as directed by Zhu from prison, according to the court filings. He was also instructed to transfer money to Wang in China, according to investigators.

Solomon, 55, who holds Israeli and French citizenship and is known as Salomon on his French passport, was detained at his home on Jan 31. 

He is facing a state felony charge of disposing of and releasing hazardous waste, and a federal felony charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (a non-immigrant visa holder). Six firearms were found in Solomon’s home, including three handguns, one rifle, and one semi-automatic rifle, according to a federal complaint.

Solomon was released on $3,000 bail and is expected back in court on March 4, according to the court in Clark County, Nevada.

The Epoch Times reached out to Solomon’s attorney for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The House Cleaner

The house cleaner who alerted the FBI to the presence of the Las Vegas biolab on Jan. 9 identified herself only as “Kelly” out of safety concerns.

Solomon told her that Zhu called him every day to check on his properties, Kelly said.

In late 2022 or early 2023, Kelly said she was hired to clean two homes—one at 979 Sugar Springs Drive and one nearby at 971 Temple View Drive—that were searched by authorities on Jan. 31.

The garage of the Sugar Springs house was always locked, Kelly said, and she was told by Solomon “numerous times and with strong emphasis” to make sure that the doors to the garage remained locked and that the garage maintained power, according to court documents.

Kelly and another Solomon employee, Michael “Mikey” Richey Harold, became “deathly ill,” about five days after entering the garage in April 2025, according to Kelly’s affidavit to law enforcement. Kelly “could not get out of bed” and was left with breathing issues, fatigue, and muscle aches.

During the raid on the Sugar Springs Drive home, authorities retrieved more than 1,000 samples, including vials and unknown liquids of various colors, many of them collected from refrigerators and a freezer located in the locked garage.

—Lear Zhou; Steve Ispas; Stacy Robinson

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—Stacy Robinson