Chinese-Run Biolab in California That Was Experimenting on Deadly Viruses Was Awarded over $500,000 in US Taxpayer Cash
A Chinese-backed biolab in California was awarded over half a million dollars in US taxpayer cash, records show.
The black market lab – which was raided earlier this year – was found to be making illegal Covid and pregnancy tests and storing disease-riddled mice and hundreds of samples of pathogens, blood, and other dubious chemicals.
Public records show that the company linked to the lab received nearly $150,000 from the US government under a Covid-era loan program, receiving two separate loans of $74,912 in April 2020 and February 2021.
Universal Meditech was also awarded a massive $360,000 tax credit in 2018 through California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CalCompetes program – though UMI’s inability to meet program guidelines meant it never actually received those funds.
The company – which was based in Fresno, California, went bust in 2022 and was taken over by its main creditor, a company with Chinese owners who moved the operation into an unassuming warehouse in the sleepy town of Reedley.
Since UMI has gone under, its cache of organic materials was taken up by Prestige Biotech, which parked them in the black market lab that kicked off the controversy.
SOURCE: Daily Mail, San Francisco Sun
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