Harvard University professor indicted for making false statements to federal authorities about China program

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The former chairman of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department was indicted Tuesday on charges of making false statements to federal authorities about his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Program.

Dr. Charles Lieber, 61, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of making false statements and will be arraigned in federal court in Boston at a later date, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Lieber was arrested on Jan. 28, 2020 and charged by criminal complaint.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, since 2008, Dr. Lieber has served as the Principal Investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, specializing in the area of nanoscience. Lieber’s research at the Lieber Research Group has been funded by more than $15 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense. Among other things, these grants required the disclosure of all sources of research support, potential financial conflicts of interest and all foreign collaboration.

MORE: FBI: Harvard professor & 2 Chinese nationals charged in separate China-related cases

It is alleged that beginning in 2011, unbeknownst to Harvard University, Lieber became a “Strategic Scientist” at Wuhan University of Technology in China. He later became contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from at least 2012 through 2015. China’s Thousand Talents Plan is one of the most prominent Chinese talent recruitment plans designed to attract, recruit, and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security.

According to court documents, these talent recruitment plans seek to lure Chinese overseas talent and foreign experts to bring their knowledge and experience to China, and they often reward individuals for stealing proprietary information. Under the terms of Lieber’s three-year Thousand Talents contract, Wuhan University allegedly paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $1 million Chinese Yuan (approximately $158,000 USD at the time) and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at Wuhan University.

In return, Lieber was obligated to work for the university in China “not less than nine months a year” by "declaring international cooperation projects, cultivating young teachers and Ph.D. students, organizing international conference[s], applying for patents and publishing articles in the name of [Wuhan University].”

It is alleged that in 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with Wuhan University. On or about April 24, 2018, during an interview with federal investigators, it is alleged that Lieber falsely stated that he was never asked to participate in the Thousand Talents Program, but that he “wasn’t sure” how China categorized him.

In November 2018, the NIH inquired of Harvard about whether Lieber had failed to disclose his then-suspected relationship with Wuhan University and China’s Thousand Talents Plan.

Lieber allegedly caused Harvard to falsely tell NIH that Lieber “had no formal association with” Wuhan University after 2012, that Wuhan University “continued to falsely exaggerate” his involvement with the university in China in subsequent years, and that Lieber “is not and has never been a participant in” China’s Thousand Talents Plan.

Lieber faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

© 2020 Cox Media Group