Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Monday that his department will no longer use the county's coronavirus testing provider over concerns about the company's alleged ties to the Chinese government.
In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Villanueva said the FBI contacted him last week and held a briefing the day after Thanksgiving to relay "the serious risks associated with allowing Fulgent to conduct COVID-19 testing" of county employees.
Villanueva claimed DNA data obtained through tests are "not guaranteed to be safe and secure from foreign governments" and said
FBI officials advised him at the briefing that genetic information the company collects is likely to be shared with the Chinese government. Fulgent Genetics, he alleged in the letter, has "strong ties" with Chinese technology and genomics companies, but he did not elaborate on what those ties are.
Villanueva said the county's top attorney and chief executive also attended the recent FBI briefing at the agency's Los Angeles office. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment when asked to confirm what was discussed at the meeting.