I have another correction to make. I didn’t realize there is an amended complaint, as I only had seen the original sealed complaint from March 17, 2026. The amended complaint doesn’t change anything except add another spurious charge of “importing merchandise contrary to law.”
From what I can tell, that charge is the best that the FBI could muster, since there were very clearly no violations of Select Agent law. It appears that this whole “biological material” in the complaint (all versions) seems to elide the fact that this “biological material” is pretty much only good for diagnostic PCR or sequencing. For example, developing diagnostic tests (like they told CBP they were doing) or doing genomic surveillance (like they also told CBP they were doing and were invited to Congo to do).
Good thing they weren’t exporting Mpox samples! These were inactivated samples for diagnostic tests.
They are also not regulated in the same way that serum samples from livestock species like horses that may contain pathogens (as serum can, including pathogens that could be introduced to the US from other countries) and thus require a special permit from USDA because they pose a risk to agriculture. Those do need to be shipped by a commercial courier and they do have additional documentation requirements.
These are not those kind of samples. They do not need to go to the Quarantine Practices Safety Officer at NIH because they are not likely to contain pathogens. They were inactivated with a validated method. From the description in the complaint, these are inactivated clinical samples being used for diagnostic testing and genomic surveillance. Exactly like they told CBP.
But still, I wanted to see what CBP’s policy was, since they were the ones who were supposedly being lied to. The complaint describes oral declarations of samples for diagnostics. Seems to fit with CBP’s policy, if you insist on calling these samples “biological material” and implying they are infectious.
I wanted to know what the law says about permit requirements, so I looked it up: CFR 49. Look at that, samples like these are listed as exceptions to the requirements for special permitting!
So they didn’t import “merchandise” contrary to the law. Based on the evidence presented in the complaint, my experience with permit and regulatory requirements for dealing with Select Agents or other high consequence pathogens, federal law, best practices, and my own knowledge of what samples can and can’t be used for, they brought in diagnostic samples they identified as such and that according to the FBI’s own tests are exempt from regulations on samples that pose an infectious threat.
Both charges are unsupported.
Thank you Deborah J., Marg KJ, Karen Fischer, TMJ, Teralex 🚫👑’s, and many others for joining! See you tomorrow
