Florida's Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier took legal action this week against a Chinese medical device manufacturer, accusing the company of selling "compromised" medical devices that allegedly include a "backdoor" that bad actors can manipulate.
Contec Medical Systems Co., Ltd., a medical device company based in China with a sales branch that operates out of Florida, was served subpoenas this week by the state AG's office.
In a press release announcing the legal action, Uthmeier accused Contec of potential cybersecurity risks, including violations of state consumer protection law, alleging there is evidence the company has been producing patient health monitoring devices inside the United States for over a decade, while simultaneously concealing "serious security problems" related to its products.
The patient monitoring device in question, the CMS800, has also been accused of operating a "backdoor" by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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"Issues include a built-in 'backdoor' that could allow bad actors to manipulate data shown on the devices without the patient or provider's knowledge and programming that automatically transmits patient information to an IP address owned by a university in China," stated the press release put out by Uthmeier. "These problems are especially concerning given that the FBI has warned on previous occasions that hackers are targeting American healthcare systems. Federal agencies have recommended that these monitors be disconnected or disabled."
Among the concerns listed by Uthmeier were efforts by Contec and those distributing its products to represent Contec's patient monitors as approved by the FDA and other international standards, even though they were not approved by the FDA, nor did they meet the global standards the company claimed.
Uthmeier also accused one of Contec's distributors of its patient monitors, Miami-based Epsimed, of hiding that they were selling Contec's devices by relabeling them as their own.
Meanwhile, Uthmeier, who also issued subpoenas to Epsimed, added that while Contec and Epsimed were representing the patient monitoring device as having certain quality assurances around safety and reliability, it simultaneously "contained a backdoor and transmitted patient information to China."
Fox News Digital reached out to Contec repeatedly for this story but did not receive a response.
Jose Mena, Epsimed's CEO, confirmed receipt of Uthmeier's subpoenas and said they are cooperating "100%."
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"We do not sell these monitors in the U.S. Our clients are in Latin America," Mena added.
"The monitors are hardly used with internet connection," he continued. "For the monitor to connect to the internet and pose a threat, it requires a Central Monitoring System which we have never supplied, meaning, the monitors sold by EPSIMED are currently being used as stand-alone basis (not connected to internet). Finally and most importantly, as soon as we gained knowledge in January 2025 that CONTEC monitors had a vulnerability issue, we immediately removed this product from our product portfolio."
Uthmeier's legal action, which is the first step in an ongoing effort that could lead to damages, civil penalties or injunctive relief against the companies, comes a week after China experts sounded an alarm over Chinese companies' increasing ability to potentially help the CCP sabotage the United States from within. The warning followed a massive attack by Israel on Iran's nuclear and military sites that Israel launched via a drone base it had built on Iranian soil and weapons systems and soldiers that had been smuggled into Iran.
Public officials on both sides of the aisle have increasingly warned of China's growing land and asset control in the United States that could aid them in the chance a war breaks out between the world's two greatest economic superpowers.
"The U.S. must choose to get serious or lose a war," Michael Lucci, the CEO and founder of State Armor Action, a conservative group with a mission to develop and enact state-level solutions to global security threats, warned via his X account following Israel's attacks.
"CCP land ownership is bad, but it's tip of the iceberg. Their industrial property holdings are worse, as is their port access. Perhaps worst of all is their deep penetration of critical infrastructure and govt systems."
Lucci added following news of Uthmeier's legal action that patients "need to feel safe when receiving care, not worried that their medical devices are sending their data back to Communist China."
