Federal Judge Drops Smuggling Charges Against Harvard Scientist

A federal judge in Boston dismissed all criminal charges against a Russian researcher on Wednesday, ending a legal battle that saw her held in immigration detention for four months. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin granted the dismissal without a hearing. The decision follows a motion filed by the U.S. Attorney's office to drop the case based on shifting priorities and resource assessments.

Kseniia Petrova, 31, was arrested in early 2025 upon returning to Logan International Airport from a vacation in France. She had visited a laboratory in France that specializes in slicing frog embryos into thin sections. The samples were intended for her cancer research at Harvard Medical School. Customs officers questioned her about the package, which she did not declare at the checkpoint.

Petrova was initially charged with smuggling, concealing facts, and making false statements to government officials. Her lawyers argued the prosecution was vindictive and selective, claiming the government filed criminal charges only after it appeared she would win her immigration case. They noted that criminal charges for such items are rare. Petrova told the Associated Press that she did not realize the embryos required declaration and was not attempting to hide the items.

The case began to unravel in April when a federal judge ruled that a customs officer had improperly canceled Petrova's visa. This ruling allowed Petrova's defense team to seek broad access to government documents. The defense aimed to prove selective prosecution by comparing Petrova's case to other instances where travelers failed to declare similar items. Petrova feared deportation to Russia and subsequent imprisonment there if her immigration case failed.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley filed a motion on Tuesday night to dismiss the charges. She stated that the resource costs of continuing the prosecution outweighed the public interest in resolving the case. Foley wrote that the defendant's claims of vindictive and selective prosecution were meritless. The motion cited the April ruling, which would have required the government to provide data on other passenger encounters involving undeclared items.

Daniel Marx, one of Petrova's attorneys, called the case highly unusual in a statement. He argued that the Department of Justice should not have prosecuted a talented scientist for handling inert, non-living, and non-toxic frog embryos. Marx said the samples posed no danger to anyone and were intended to advance medical research into aging. The Department of Homeland Security had previously defended the detention, claiming Petrova lied to federal officers about the embryos.

Petrova remained in detention for four months following her arrest in early 2025. The dismissal clears her of all criminal counts related to her arrival at the Boston airport. The scientific samples she brought from the French laboratory were meant for research at her position at Harvard Medical School.