The University of Iowa has expelled a student from China for repeated academic misconduct for a second time after the first effort collapsed in court.

Court records show that business student Pengzhen Yin was notified of his expulsion earlier this month, just weeks before he is expected to graduate.

Yin has asked a judge to put the expulsion on hold, arguing that it is based on the same cheating incidents for which he was already expelled and reinstated.

Judge Karen Romano ruled in December that the university lacked proof that Yin plagiarized a paper. That allegation had prompted his expulsion because it was his third alleged violation of the business school's honor code.

After that ruling, the lawyer for the Board of Regents asked Romano to reconsider newly obtained emails to university officials in which Yin admitted he didn't write the paper in question.

Romano refused, saying the board was asking for a "do-over" after failing to bring forward critical evidence.