Harvard scientist indicted on charges of lying about Chinese research, financial ties

A federal grand jury has indicted a former Harvard nanotechnology expert on two charges of making false statements for his alleged yearslong work with the Chinese government while receiving at least $15 million in federal grants.

Dr. Charles Lieber, 61, will be arraigned in U.S. District Court at a date to be determined, and was initially arrested in January before being released on a $1 million cash bond.

Feds say Wuhan University of Technology paid Lieber $50,000 a month, approximately $158,000 in living expenses and $1.5 million to establish a research laboratory in exchange for working on behalf of the university for “not less than nine months a year” beginning in 2011.

Lieber also allegedly lied to Harvard, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health about his work with China’s Thousand Talents program, labeled by feds as an organization rewarding proprietary espionage.

The former chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard, who was placed on paid administrative leave, was awarded at least $15 million in grants from the DOD and NIH while collaborating with China, according to feds.

An attorney for Lieber did not respond to a Herald inquiry Tuesday.

Lieber’s indictment comes after a string of Chinese espionage prosecutions earlier this year in Boston, including two Chinese nationals and researchers also accused of working with their own government.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in February his office has “leads” on Chinese espionage cases in Boston, and also said universities have grown as allies to combat espionage attempts.

Zaosong Zheng, who was allegedly captured at Boston Logan International Airport with stolen vials of cancer research from a local hospital lab, has a federal court hearing scheduled Friday.

Yanqing Ye, an alleged lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army accused of researching the U.S. military while she was sponsored by Boston University to study here, is still wanted by the FBI.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3halKpH