“Along with her husband, Haoyang Yu, Yanzhi Chen was charged by indictment in September 2020 with participating in a scheme to defraud Mr. Yu’s former employer, a Massachusetts company called Analog Devices Incorporated (ADI). Last month, a jury convicted Mr. Yu of one count of possessing a stolen ADI trade secret. However, the jury found Mr. Yu not guilty of the remaining 18 counts charged in the indictment, including counts alleging that Mr. Yu defrauded ADI and violated immigration laws.
Today’s dismissal of the fraud charges against Mr. Yu’s wife, Ms. Chen, is in the interests of justice. As prosecutors, we have a constant obligation to assess the merits of every prosecution that we pursue. Today’s dismissal is the result of my office’s continuing assessment of the evidence against Ms. Chen in light of the jury’s verdict against Mr. Yu. We understand that our charging decisions deeply impact people’s lives. I will continue to require our prosecutors to rigorously assess cases at every stage of our proceedings to see if we should continue pursuing and prosecuting those suspected of engaging in criminal conduct.”