In the News

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The news articles and U.S. government announcements linked below are provided for context related to current foreign influence initiatives, investigations, and other activities and are intended informational purposes only. Inclusion on this web page does not indicate UVA's endorsement or concurrence with the views or opinions included in these linked articles and we remind readers that individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

 

9/28/2022: Federal fraud charges crumble in cases against scientists with China ties.  In separate cases, attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) had maintained that chemist Franklin Tao, materials scientist Zhengdong Cheng, and mathematician Mingqing Xiao jeopardized the nation’s security and defrauded the government by deliberately hiding ties to Chinese institutions from the federal agencies funding their research. But last week, judges in Kansas, Texas, and Illinois either invalidated some of the most serious charges or handed down relatively lenient sentences for lesser violations. 

2/23/22: U.S. Department of Justice Ends Controversial Probe of Researchers' China Ties. Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, announced the end of the program saying it "fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias." Instead he said a broader approach will be used to protect know-how and intellectual property from adversarial foreign governments.

1/14/22: In high-profile case against MIT's Gang Chen, prosecutors seeking to drop charges. Prosecutors in Boston have asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters in Washington DC to signoff on their request to dismissal all charges. Last year Chang was charged with wire fraud, making a false statement on a tax return, and failing to file a report of a foreign bank account under DOJ's controversial China Initiative (for information about the charges see the 1/14/2021 DOJ press release).

12/21/21: Prominent Harvard Professor Found Guilty of Lying About China Ties. A Boston jury found Charles Lieber guilty on six counts related to payments he received from a Chinese government talent program. He was accused of lying to federal investigators; failing to disclose cash payments from the program on his income tax returns; and concealing the existence of a Chinese bank account. (See also, In a Boston Court, a Superstar of Science Falls to Earth)

9/10/21: Researcher Accused of Concealing China Ties Acquitted. Anming Hu, a former associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was acquitted of fraud charges by a federal judge.

1/14/21: MIT Professor Charged With Fraud for Failing to Disclose Work for Chinese Gov't.  Prosecutors allege that while employed by MIT, Gang Chen, a naturalized US citizen, held various appointments within the PRC designed to promote the country's technological and scientific development by providing advice and expertise, often in exchange for financial compensation. He is alleged to have received approximately $29M in foreign funding, including $19M from China's Southern University of Science and Technology, while receiving more that $19M in grants from U.S. federal research agencies. Charges include that Chen abused his position at MIT to commit wire fraud, failed to file a foreign bank account report and made a false statement in a tax return.

12/28/20: Report finds holes in U.S. policies on foreign influence in research. A report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provides recommendations to prevent improper foreign influence following its review of five major research sponsors (NIH, NSF, NASA, DOD, and DOE). 

11/12/20: Ex-Ohio State prof pleads guilty to sharing work with China. A rheumatology professor who worked at Ohio State and Pennsylvania State Universities pleaded guilty to making materially false statements in federal grant applications, a crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison, to hide his participation in a talent recruitment program as well as his affiliation and collaboration with a Chinese university. Song Guo Zheng, 58, and his research groups secured more than $4.3 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health for projects while receiving overlapping funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

9/24/20: Texas A&M professor arrested for conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud.  According to the criminal complaint the NASA-funded faculty member willfully took steps to obscure his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese university and at least one Chinese-owned company. The terms of the NASA grant explicitly prohibited participation, collaboration or coordination with China, any Chinese-owned company or any Chinese university, according to the charges.

9/23/20: U.S. Drops Case Against Chinese Scientist at UVA. Prosecutors abruptly moved to drop criminal charges against a visiting Chinese scientist at the University of Virginia who had been arrested last month on allegations of stealing trade secrets from his professor, after the university acknowledged the scientist was authorized to access some of the material.

9/3/20: US Investigations of Chinese scientists expand focus to military ties. Authorities in the United States increase scrutiny of Chinese researchers’ background, causing concern about unfair accusations.

8/31/20: Chinese Researcher Charged With Destroying Evidence. A Chinese national researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles under investigation for possibly transferring sensitive software or technical data to China’s National University of Defense Technology and for allegedly misrepresenting his association with the Chinese military in his 2018 visa application and in interviews with law enforcement, was arrested after being observed throwing a damaged hard drive into a dumpster outside his apartment.

8/28/20: UVA researcher charged with theft of trade secrets.  A visiting Chinese graduate student was arrested on federal charges for theft of trade secrets and computer intrusion.  UPDATE 9/29/20:  Charges dropped against Chinese research accused of stealing UVa trade secrets.

7/24/20:  FBI Takes Wanted Chinese Researcher Into Custody; She Had Been Harbored In SF Consulate. A Chinese researcher, wanted on visa fraud charges and being harbored inside San Francisco’s Chinese Consulate, was arrested by FBI agents and was being held in Sacramento, authorities announced on Friday

7/23/20: Research security bill advances in the U.S. Senate despite opposition from research groups.  Bipartisan support from the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs for the Safeguarding American Innovation Act (S. 3997) reflects an apparent growing consensus that Congress should respond to Chinese-backed research collaborations seen as threatening national security.

7/9/20:  China-Connected Researcher Charged with Grant Fraud in U.S.  The researcher was arrested in May as he was about to board a flight to China and is being held without bond on charges of grant fraud involving about $4 million in NIH grant funds and making false statements for failing to disclose employment in China while he was working at U.S. universities, including the Ohio State University. (See 7/9/20 Justice News release.)

7/7/20: Exclusive: US National Science Foundation reveals first details on foreign-influence investigations.  Since 2018, NSF has taken action in 16–20 cases in which foreign ties were not properly reported. The range of actions has included the agency reassigning, suspending or terminating grants, forcing institutions to return funds, and barring researchers from applying for future funding.

7/7/20:  Hudson Institute Video Event titled China's Attempt to Influence U.S. Institutions: A Conversation with FBI Director Christopher Wray.

6/18/20:  U.S. Science groups wary of new Senate bills to curb foreign influences. The proposed legislation, titled the "Safeguarding American Innovation Act", was drafted by Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE) and is co-sponsored by eight republicans and five democrats has been in development for over a year and claims to be a way to stop China and other countries form stealing the results of federally funded research and using it to damage U.S. economic and national security. Research organizations worry that, if enacted, the legislation would restrict the flow of talent and ideas, damaging the research enterprise. This legislation is the broadest and most substantive proposal seeking to reconcile these competing interests.

6/18/20: Senators take aim at universities' 'lax' foreign gifts reporting.  The newly proposed Safeguarding American Innovation Act aims to address foreign governments' theft of tax-payer funded research results and reduce undue foreign influence on U.S. institutions of higher education. The proposed legislation includes lowering the Higher Education Act's (see, Section 117) reporting threshold for contracts and grants received by U.S. institutions of higher education from foreign entities from $250,000 to $50,000.

6/12/20: Fifty-four scientists have lost their jobs as a result of NIH probe into foreign ties.  According to Michael Lauer, Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health, 54 scientists have resigned or been fired as a result of ongoing investigations into undisclosed financial ties to foreign governments (93% of cases involved funding from a Chinese institution). Other statistics provided by NIH include that the investigation involved 285 active NIH grants totaling $164 million and a breakdown of the types of undisclosed activities (70% foreign grants, 54% participation in a foreign talent program, 9% ties to a foreign company, and 4% a foreign patent).

5/14/20: Former Cleveland Clinic Employee and Chinese "Thousand Talents" Participant Arrested for Wire Fraud.  The employee is charged with false claims and wire fraud related to more than $3.6 million in grant funding that the researcher and his group received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The criminal compliant alleges that the employee knowingly failure to disclose an affiliation/position with Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST); grant funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for some of the same research funded by NIH; and $3 million in research support to enhance facilities and operations at HUST as part of his participation in the Thousand Talents Program.

5/11/20: University of Arkansas Professor Arrested for Wire Fraud. Acting US Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, David Clay Fowlkes, and FBI Special Agent in Charge, Diane Upchurch, recently announced the arrest of a University of Arkansas professor on a single wire fraud charge. The professor is accused of making materially false representations, by failing to make required disclosures of close ties to the Chinese government and Chinese companies, to the institution and NASA in order to receive NASA grant funds.  

5/7/20: Republicans Deepen Scrutiny of Universities' Ties to China. Led by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH), the top Republicans on seven House committees wrote to the Department of Education on May 4 seeking information yielded by its ongoing probe into U.S. universities’ underreporting of funding from foreign sources. 

5/5/20: America Challenges China's Talent Programs. This report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) reviews the history of China's talent programs and the US government's evolving perception of those programs. The report concludes with recommendations for both the US and China on how to regain trust and enable collaborative research that benefits both countries.  

4/30/20:  Lawmakers Probe NIH Over Chinese Espionage Targeting U.S. Medical Research.  In a letter sent to NIH director Francis Collins on 4/29, two representatives voice concern over how researchers with ties to China and other adversary nations participate in confidential research and receive American grant money.  The lawmakers express concern that lack of oversight and NIH may have allowed foreign spies to access critical research. 

4/3/20:  NIH Suspends Scientists in Effort to Secure Peer Review System.  NIH has terminated ten scientists from peer review and flagged another 77 on a "do not use" list.  (Bloomberg Law article, subscription required).  See also, the 3/31/20 entry, below for links to the summary and full report.

3/31/20: NIH Has Acted to Protect Confidential Information Handled by Peer Reviewers, But It Could Do More (Summary). This report (OEI-05-19-00240) by the Office of the Inspector General describes actions taken by NIH against peer reviewers who breached confidentiality.  While recognizing that NIH has taken steps to shore up the protection of confidential information submitted in proposals, the report also suggests NIH take the following additional steps: 1) conducted targeted, risk-based oversight of peer reviewers using risk indicators; 2) update its training materials routinely with information about breeches of confidentiality and undue foreign influence; 3) require all peer reviewers to attend periodic training about these risks; and 4) continue consulting with national security experts about peer review risks and mitigation.  NIH concurred with all four recommendations.

3/22/20:  70 years of suspicion toward Chinese scientists - and what those caught in the middle should do now.  This article reflects on the history of both scientific engagement and government suspicion that has lead to the current crackdown on US researchers collaborating with colleagues in China.  The author suggests that researchers make sure they are comfortable disclosing the full terms of their ongoing relationships, with China and other countries, to their universities, funding agencies, or law enforcement and emphasizes that most charges against university researchers have been and are expected to continue to be related to failures to disclose and/or fraud.

3/12/20:  Universities are forging ties with the FBI as US cracks down on foreign influence.  Nature asked research vice-presidents at various public universities what steps their institutes were taking to respond to the government concerns.  Reported steps included forging closer ties with FBI agents, encouraging scientists to disclose foreign sources of research funding, and tightening restrictions on researchers’ travel. (This includes a quote from UVA's VPR, Melur Ramasubramanian.) 

3/10/20:  Former West Virginia University Professor Pleads Guilty to Fraud That Enabled Him to Participate in the Peoples Republic of China's "Thousand Talents Plan."  James Lewis was a tenured professor in WVU's physics department specializing in molecular reactions used in coal conversion technologies, who in July 2017 entered into a contract of employment with the PRC through it's "Global Experts 1000 Talents Plan."  Lewis pled guilty to one charge of "Federal Program Fraud" for defrauding WVU into giving him leave so that he could fulfill his competing obligations to a Chinese institution which he hid from the university. (This story was also reported by ABC affiliate WDTV.)

2/27/20:  Researcher At University of Tennessee Arrested For Wire Fraud And Making False Statements About Affiliation With a Chinese University.  The charges in this case stem from the researcher's alleged failure to disclose a relationship with the Beijing to the university.

1/28/20: Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases. The professor and department chair was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement. One Chinese national was charged in absentia with one count each of visa fraud, making false statements, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and conspiracy; the other was indicted on one count each of smuggling goods (21 vials of biological research materials) from the US and making false, fictitious or fraudulent statements. (see 1/28/20 Reuters news article)

1/19/20:  Moffitt Cancer Center details links of fired scientists to Chinese talent programs.  Six cancer researchers were dismissed by the Moffitt Cancer Center in December for failing to disclose their ties to a Chinese medical university as part of a talent program.  The researchers included former CEO Alan List and the director of its research program, Thomas Sellers. (See 12/18/19 Moffitt press release)

1/8/20:  New Law Creates Working Groups on Foreign Influence on Campus.  Defense legislation signed by President Trump creates new working groups:  one an interagency group based in the White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy; and the other a roundtable run by the National Academies that will bring together officials from higher ed, government, and industry to provide advice about safeguarding national security.

12/20/19:  U.S. takes aim at foreign influence.  News article in Science describing the current federal efforts to combat undue foreign influence.

12/19/19:  U.S. Reaches Settlement on Undisclosed Chinese Funding of Scientists.  The Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) in Michigan has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay $5.5 million to resolve false claims allegations related to its failure to disclose Chinese government grants provided to two VARI researchers in grant applications and progress reports submitted to the National Institutes of Health. (Also reported in the Wall Street Journal)

12/8/19:  China tells government offices to remove all foreign computer equipment.  Chinese president Xi Jinping has ordered all foreign computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions in the next three years.

11/13/19:  The Science Security Threat.  US government officials meet with APLU members to discuss ways to address security threats.

10/6/19:  US researchers on front line of battle against Chinese theft.  The FBI has been reaching out to colleges and universities across the country as it tries to stem what American authorities portray as the wholesale theft of technology and trade secrets by researchers tapped by China.

10/4/19:  NIH reveals its formula for tracking foreign influences.  NIH has been tight-lipped about how it identified some 250 scientists who came under suspicion. (One hundred and eighty are still being investigated.) However, Michael Lauer, director of NIH's extramural research program in Bethesda, Maryland, suggested many were linked to China's Thousand Talents Program and indicated that one telltale sign is when U.S.-based scientists list a Chinese institution as their primary affiliation on publications.  Note:  Examples of talent program agreements are available in Appendix A: China's Talent Recruitment Plan Contracts of the US Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, Threats to the U.S. Research Enterprise: China's Talent Recruitment Plans, staff report.

9/9/19:  U.S. charges Chinese professor in latest shot at Huawei.  A professor at a Chinese university who was accused of stealing trade secrets for Huawei as part of a civil lawsuit now faces a criminal theft charge. At the time of the alleged theft, Bo Mao was an associate professor and Xiamen UNiversity; he later became a visiting professor at a US university but that was prior to being charged. (Also reported by Bloomberg)

8/27/19:  How China Uses LinkedIn to Recruit Spies Abroad.  Western counterintelligence officers say that while China is the most active they are not alone in exploiting social media, principally LinkedIn, to try to recruit assets.

8/23/19:  UCSD Eye Doctor Resigns After Investigation into Ties with China. A physician researcher resigned after questions were raised about his participation in China's Thousand Talents Program and his failure to disclose to UCSD and the federal government that he was the cofounder and primary shareholder of a Chinese biotechnology company.

8/21/19:  University of Kansas Researcher Indicted for Fraud for Failing to Disclose Conflict of Interest with Chinese University.  A UK researcher funded by the National Science Foundation and US Department of Energy contracts has been indicted on one count of wire fraud and three counts of program fraud.  The counts stem from his for receiving salary support from his federal awards while he was employed by a Chinese institution without disclosing, as was required, that employment relationship to UK or his federal sponsors. (Also reported in the Washington Post)

5/24/19: Terminated Emory Researcher Disputes University's Allegations About China Ties.  Two researchers at Emory University were fired for allegedly failing to disclose funding and ties to institutions in China. The husband and wife are both US citizens, had worked at Emory for 23 years, and were funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. 

4/19/19:  Exclusive: Major U.S. cancer center ousts 'Asian' researchers after NIH flags their foreign ties.  The MD Anderson Cancer Center initiated the termination of three senior researchers after National Institutes of Health informed leaders that the scientists had committed potentially “serious” violations of agency rules involving confidentiality of peer review and the disclosure of foreign ties.

2/25/19:  Ex-Virginia Tech biotech professor found guilty of grant fraud. Guilty verdict included one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, three counts of making false statements, and one count of obstruction.