The secret Chinese-run biolab based in Fresno County at the center of multiple state and Federal investigations was also awarded $500,000 in taxpayer funds via loans and grants.
Driving the news: Universal Meditech, the precursor to Prestige Biotech, the Chinese-owned operator of the black market Reedley laboratory, received $150,000 via the Federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, records have reported.
- Separately, the firm was also awarded an astounding $360,000 tax credit from the State of California via Gov. Gavin Newsom’s CalCompetes program.
- According to a report from the Daily Mail, UMI was unable to actually recoup the funds via Newsom’s program due to its failure to meet program guidelines.
- The firm produced unapproved COVID-19 diagnostic tests whose recall and a hefty fire at its facility in south Fresno forced the business into bankruptcy.
- 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.
