Government says Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought 'biological materials'

BOSTON — Attorneys argued over whether a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought “biological materials” into the U.S. in a court hearing Wednesday.

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist conducting cancer research for Harvard Medical School, appeared in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, where government and defense attorneys argued over whether she brought “biological materials” into the U.S., ABC News reported.

She was returning from a vacation from France in February when she was questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan International Airport.

Petrova, 30, had stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples for research. Federal officials on the social media website X accused her of lying about “carrying substances” into the country and alleged that she planned to smuggle the embryos through customs without declaring them.

She told The Associated Press in an interview in April that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country.

Petrova was told her visa was being canceled and detained by immigration officials in Vermont after her initial arrest. She filed a petition seeking her release and was briefly sent to an ICE facility in Louisiana, after which a judge ruled the immigration officers’ actions were unlawful. In May, she was charged with one count of smuggling.

The Homeland Security Investigations agent who wrote the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Brian Goldsworthy, testified Wednesday that Petrova would not have been able to leave the airport had she declared the frog embryos in her luggage, ABC News reported.

He said that Customs and Border Protection agriculture experts and a federal laboratory that reviewed the samples deemed them to be biological material, ABC News reported. Petrova's attorney argued it was unclear what definition the government was operating under and the requirement to declare items entering the country doesn't hinge on whether something is a biological material, ABC News reported.

After Wednesday's hearing, both sides will now have the opportunity to submit briefs to the judge.

If convicted of the smuggling charge, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.