Former Harvard professor with ties to China, Wuhan University, sentenced on charges of lying to feds
A former Harvard Professor was sentenced in federal court Wednesday on charges of lying to federal authorities regarding his ties to the People’s Republic of China and Wuhan University of Technology, as well as falsifying his tax returns.
Dr. Charles Lieber was sentenced to serve two days in federal prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay fines and resituations totaling over $80,000, according to the District of Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office.
In December 2021, the former Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department was convicted on two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, two counts of making a false income tax return and two counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts with the IRS.
Prosecutors say Lieber was a strategic scientist at the WUT and a participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan while helping oversee more than $15 million in research sponsored by various U.S. Government agencies from 2012 to 2015. The Thousand Talents Plan was a Chinese talent recruitment strategy to “attract, recruit and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security,” says the AG’s office.
In an April 2018 interview, Lieber told federal agents he had never been asked to participate in the Thousand Talents Plan, according to prosecutors. Lieber also caused Harvard to falsely tell the National Institutes of Health that Lieber was not a participant in the program in January 2019.
Prosecutors say Lieber signed a Thousand Talents contract with WUT in 2019. The three-year contract allowed Lieber to be paid upwards of $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $150,00 and approximately $1.5 million to conduct joint research with WUT.
Lieber did not report his earned income from WUT or other payments related to his Thousand Talents contract to the IRS, according to the AG’s office. Prosecutors say Lieber also opened a Chinese bank account during a 2012 trip to Wuhan. WUT allegedly deposited percentages of Lieber’s salary into that account. Between 2014 and 2015, Lieber’s Chinese bank account was around $200,000 while prosecutors say Lieber purposely failed to file the proper tax forms.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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