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# Arrest Made in Misbranded Device Case
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/arrest-made-in-misbranded-device-case/
- Published: 2023-10-20T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T14:13:55.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Devices, #legacy-id-D5155618

A Chinese citizen was arrested 10/19 on a criminal complaint about manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and making false statements to FDA. A [government release](https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/press-releases/arrest-made-central-california-bio-lab-investigation?ref=fdaweb.com) says **Jia Bei Zhu** (formerly of Clovis, CA), changed his name, the names of his companies, and their locations as part of his scheme. He reportedly used the aliases **Jesse Zhu**, **Qiang He** and **David He.**

According to the government, between 12/2020 and 3/2023, Zhu and others manufactured, imported, sold, and distributed hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 test kits, in addition to test kits for HIV, pregnancy, clinical urinalysis, and other conditions in the U.S. and China. They operated under Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI) and Prestige Biotech Incorporated (PBI), which were based in Fresno, CA and Reedley, CA. The companies failed to obtain the required authorizations to manufacture and distribute the test kits and mislabeled some of the tests, the government says. “When questioned by FDA officials, Zhu made false statements about his identity, his ownership and control of UMI and PBI, and the activities of UMI and PBI,” it says.

If convicted, Zhu faces up to three years in prison for the device misbranding charge, and five more years in prison for the false statements charge.