In 2014, two years after the British Columbia Supreme Court ruling against JingJing Genetics, XY still hadn't received the CA$8.5 million in damages. In further pursuit of the damages, XY sued another company controlled by Mr. Zhu—this time in Hong Kong.
XY sought to access its damages from the defendant's frozen HSBC bank account connected to yet another company controlled by Mr. Zhu, Grand Network Technology Co. Ltd (GNT).
GNT was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2000 and then registered as a private company in Hong Kong in 2014, according to court documents.
Peter Wang and another man were appointed as GNT's first directors and major shareholders, as they were also employed by companies within IND Group, the group of companies controlled by Mr. Zhu with operations in Canada and China. Peter Wang is Mr. Zhu's brother-in-law.
Although still marked as “active” in Hong Kong's company directory, GNT appears to be a shell company, as no website, services, or contacts are listed.
Mr. Zhu and GNT appealed the case in Hong Kong on two grounds: one was jurisdiction-related, and the other was that Mr. Zhu didn't own GNT.
The onus was put on XY to litigate that Mr. Zhu controlled GNT, which caused lengthy delays in the case.
During the trial, IND employees testified that they didn't know who their actual employer was and that they were moved around between companies without knowledge or consent while keeping the same roles. They only knew they had been transferred when they received their paycheck from another company.
They regarded all the various companies involved as one group—the IND Group—all owned and controlled by Mr. Zhu. Employee testimony revealed that Mr. Zhu instructed an accounting manager in the IND Group to transfer money out of IND LifeTech Group Ltd to GNT’s account to "avoid execution by XY."
According to testimony from James Yunjian Yang—a former IND office manager from 1999 to 2014—several offshoot companies operated in the United States.
Mr. Yang was involved in developing businesses in California, Australia, and Uruguay. Specifically, in Uruguay, where Mr. Yang set up IND Lifetech Uruguay, Mr. Zhu asked him to be a director of this new company.
Mr. Yang asked for a secondary position, as he didn't want to take full responsibility, according to his testimony. As a result, a consultant, Edward Richard, agreed to be a shareholder. Mr. Yang, despite owning 95 percent of the company on paper, said he always considered Mr. Zhu the owner.
A 2016 ruling in Hong Kong revealed that although Mr. Zhu had never been a shareholder or director of GNT, he ultimately controlled the company. The ruling dismissed GNT's appeal against freezing its bank account to pay XY.
"The evidence reinforces a good arguable case that although Jesse Zhu has never been a director or shareholder of GNT, he controlled or owned GNT," the court document states.
"Although the various companies appear to have been set up for different purposes, they were, from Mr. Zhu’s point of view, interchangeable as his wishes dictated."
GNT's jurisdiction appeal was decided earlier this year, on May 16. A Hong Kong justice ruling to dismiss GNT’s appeal in favor of XY, which was reported as a rare win for a foreign plaintiff with no operations or assets in Hong Kong.
A search on the Vlex legal intelligence platform for "Jessie Jia Bei Zhu" returns 27 legal cases—19 in Canada, seven in Hong Kong, and one in the United States (Wisconsin).
A search for "Universal Meditech Inc." returned 132 legal cases in 10 countries—116 in the United States—while "Prestige Biotech" returned 53 cases in four countries, of which 31 are in the United States.
The Epoch Times contacted Prestige Biotech, Universal Meditech, Jesse Zhu, and Wang Zhaoyan for this article, but received no response.
The Epoch Times reached out to XY and its parent company, Sexing Technologies, but didn't receive a response by press time.
Recently, Universal Meditech—which had given over its biolab contents to Prestige Biotech—was set to move to a new location near the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, according to local media outlet GV Wire.
Ms. Harper, the City of Reedley code enforcer, said that after reports of the issues the city was having surfaced during the Reedley investigation, Fresno officials denied the proposal for the new location, and Universal's lease was canceled.
The FDA issued a warning on Aug. 11 regarding test kits manufactured by Universal Meditech, and on Aug. 31, Universal Meditech announced that it was going out of business and issued a recall of all its products, including the COVID-19 test kits.
On Sept. 13, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party issued its first-ever subpoena to gather evidence in its investigation into the Reedley biolab.
"It is deeply disturbing that a Chinese company set up a clandestine facility in small-town America that contained, per the CDC, ‘at least 20 potentially infectious agents’ like HIV and the deadliest known form of malaria," said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the committee.
Responding to the subpoena, Reedley officials turned over thousands of pages of documents, hundreds of photos, and hours of video.
The FBI replied to an Epoch Times inquiry about the investigation, saying: "The Reedley matter is being handled by local Fresno County officials. In keeping with long-standing policy, the FBI has neither confirmed nor denied any investigation and has not commented on this matter."
Ms. Harper said she's had a lot of sleepless nights since discovering the secret biolab.
"I'm sitting at home, and I'm thinking, 'Gosh, you know, this is happening here in Reedley, this could be happening all across the United States,'" she told The Epoch Times.
"It keeps you up at night, knowing that there's no one out there looking for these labs. And even if we do find them, a city or county could get frustrated to the point that they just tell them, 'OK, here's a notice, move out,' and then it just moves on to the next city."