dr. Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, was found guilty of two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, two counts of making and signing a false income tax return, and two counts of making a false statement to federal authorities. file counts of non-compliance with foreign bank and financial account reports with the Internal Revenue Service.
Lieber’s research group at Harvard had received more than $15 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, requiring disclosure of foreign financial conflicts of interest. The jury found that Lieber had lied about his ties to the Wuhan University of Technology in China and about a contract he had with a Chinese talent recruitment scheme to attract high-ranking scientists to the country.
He was paid $50,000 a month from the Chinese university and was awarded $1.5 million to establish a nanoscience research lab at WUT, the Justice Ministry said in a press release. Lieberman was specifically affiliated with China’s Thousand Talents Program, which the department called “one of the most prominent talent recruitment plans”, designed to attract, recruit and cultivate high-level scientific talent to promote China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security.
Acting US attorney Nathaniel Mendell said in a statement Tuesday that “there is now no doubt that Charles Lieber lied to federal investigators and to Harvard in an attempt to hide his participation in China’s Thousand Talents program.”
“He lied to the IRS about the money paid to him, and he hid his Chinese bank account from the United States. The jury followed the evidence and the law to a fair verdict,” he continued.
Patrick Hegarty, the special agent in charge of the Northeast Defense Criminal Investigative Service field office, similarly said in a statement that Lieber “has eroded the trust the DoD has in its investigators to prioritize the United States and his service members above foreign governments, and more than personal financial gain.”
Lieber’s sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
