A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Kseniia Petrova, the Russian-born Harvard scientist accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States.The order from District Judge Leo T.Sorokin in Massachusetts came Wednesday, a day after federal prosecutors filed a petition to drop the charges against Petrova.In the filing, prosecutors said they made the move following an order from a federal magistrate judge in April allowing Petrova to obtain evidence supporting her claims that she was being vindictively prosecuted.Prosecutors stated in their petition that while they thought Petrova’s claims of vindictive and selective prosecution were “meritless,” providing evidence to the contrary would mean disclosing “non-public information” about the operations and investigative techniques of U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.Daniel N.
Marx, Petrova’s attorney, told NBC News in a statement Wednesday that “throughout these proceedings, Ms.Petrova has shown tremendous courage, and we are relieved that this chapter of her terrible ordeal is now over.”Marx said the Department of Justice “never should have brought this highly unusual ‘smuggling’ prosecution” against his client, whom he described as a talented scientist at Harvard University determined “to advance medical research into aging that could benefit everyone.”Petrova, a biomedical researcher, was taken into custody by immigration authorities at Boston’s Logan Airport in February 2025 after returning from Paris.
Her J-1 scholar visa was canceled following the detention, and she was later placed into immigration proceedings.Earlier this year, a judge in Vermont ruled that Petrova’s visa was unlawfully canceled.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSIran says Americans rejected Trump’s war as the world reacts to the midterms rout FOR SUBSCRIBERSVoters rejected Trump’s ‘booming’ economy narrative and the AI that underpins it FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘No one is going to outwor...