Federal prosecutors have brought charges against Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology chair for lying to the Defense Department about money he received from China’s Wuhan University of Technology.
As reported by NBC News:
The documents presented by federal prosecutors on Tuesday allege that Lieber was paid $50,000 monthly, along with $158,000 in living expenses and $1.74 million to set up a research lab at Wuhan University.
The money was allegedly transferred using China’s Thousand Talents program, which aims to poach Western science and technology experts and bring them to work in China in those fields.
The National Institutes of Health was also allegedly lied to by Lieber regarding his involvement in the Thousand Talents recruitment plan and his affiliation withChina’s Wuhan University.
NBC News reported that law enforcement has confirmed Lieber is in federal custody as of Tuesday.
In 2011, Lieber was featured in a Harvard Magazine article for his work on “virus-sized transistors:”
The arrest comes as Wuhan is under quarantine after the spread of the novel coronavirus, with thousands infected and many more dead.
Wuhan has been confirmed as the epicenter of the biological crisis.
National File reported last week on video evidence that shows Wuhan hospitals are running out of beds as infected patients pile up on the floors:
As reported by NBC News:
Charles M. Lieber, the chair of Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, allegedly violated federal law by not disclosing his involvement in China’s Thousand Talents Plan to the Defense Department, including money he received, according to the charging document.
“The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious,” Harvard said in a statement. “Harvard is cooperating with federal authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, and is initiating its own review of the alleged misconduct.”
The documents presented by federal prosecutors on Tuesday allege that Lieber was paid $50,000 monthly, along with $158,000 in living expenses and $1.74 million to set up a research lab at Wuhan University.
The money was allegedly transferred using China’s Thousand Talents program, which aims to poach Western science and technology experts and bring them to work in China in those fields.
The National Institutes of Health was also allegedly lied to by Lieber regarding his involvement in the Thousand Talents recruitment plan and his affiliation withChina’s Wuhan University.
NBC News reported that law enforcement has confirmed Lieber is in federal custody as of Tuesday.
In 2011, Lieber was featured in a Harvard Magazine article for his work on “virus-sized transistors:”
Lieber has worked for the past decade on the design and synthesis of nanoscale parts that will enable him to build tiny electronic devices (see “Liquid Computing,” November-December 2001, page 20).
The arrest comes as Wuhan is under quarantine after the spread of the novel coronavirus, with thousands infected and many more dead.
Wuhan has been confirmed as the epicenter of the biological crisis.
National File reported last week on video evidence that shows Wuhan hospitals are running out of beds as infected patients pile up on the floors:
Disturbing video footage posted to YouTube shows a Chinese doctor in the doctor in the city of Wuhan begging in vain for help from higher-ups to combat the spread of the deadly Corona virus.
The doctor, clad in full hazmat gear, is seen on the phone communicating with his superiors in an agitated voice.
The user who posted the video provided a rough translation of the phone call:
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The above story is based upon a recent DOJ press release which detailed the charges against Dr. Dr. Charles Lieber and at least two of Lieber's alleged accomplices. According to this document, these three (and possibly other) individuals were attempting to exchange samples of the deadly Coronavirus for their own personal gain and the possible advantage of a number of unmentioned financial interests.
As in any case of investigation, when we follow the money, we will most likely uncover the truth of the situation.
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Source: Department of Justice
Published: January 28, 2020
By: Department of Justice
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases
The Department of Justice announced today that the Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department and two Chinese nationals have been charged in connection with aiding the People’s Republic of China.
Dr. Charles Lieber, 60, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, was arrested this morning and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement. Lieber will appear this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts.
Yanqing Ye, 29, a Chinese national, was charged in an indictment today with one count each of visa fraud, making false statements, acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy. Ye is currently in China.
Zaosong Zheng, 30, a Chinese national, was arrested on Dec. 10, 2019, at Boston’s Logan International Airport and charged by criminal complaint with attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research to China. On Jan. 21, 2020, Zheng was indicted on one count of smuggling goods from the United States and one count of making false, fictitious or fraudulent statements. He has been detained since Dec. 30, 2019.
Dr. Charles Lieber
According to court documents, since 2008, Dr. Lieber who has served as the Principal Investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, which specialized in the area of nanoscience, has received more than $15,000,000 in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DOD). These grants require the disclosure of significant foreign financial conflicts of interest, including financial support from foreign governments or foreign entities. Unbeknownst to Harvard University beginning in 2011, Lieber became a “Strategic Scientist” at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in China and was a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from in or about 2012 to 2017. China’s Thousand Talents Plan is one of the most prominent Chinese Talent recruit plans that are designed to attract, recruit, and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security. These talent programs seek to lure Chinese overseas talent and foreign experts to bring their knowledge and experience to China and reward individuals for stealing proprietary information. Under the terms of Lieber’s three-year Thousand Talents contract, WUT paid Lieber $50,000 USD per month, living expenses of up to 1,000,000 Chinese Yuan (approximately $158,000 USD at the time) and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at WUT. In return, Lieber was obligated to work for WUT “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” WUT.
The complaint alleges that in 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and affiliation with WUT. On or about, April 24, 2018, during an interview with investigators, Lieber stated that he was never asked to participate in the Thousand Talents Program, but he “wasn’t sure” how China categorized him. In November 2018, NIH inquired of Harvard whether Lieber had failed to disclose his then-suspected relationship with WUT and China’s Thousand Talents Plan. Lieber caused Harvard to falsely tell NIH that Lieber “had no formal association with WUT” after 2012, that “WUT continued to falsely exaggerate” his involvement with WUT in subsequent years, and that Lieber “is not and has never been a participant in” China’s Thousand Talents Plan.
Yanqing Ye
According to the indictment, Ye is a Lieutenant of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China and member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On her J-1 visa application, Ye falsely identified herself as a “student” and lied about her ongoing military service at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), a top military academy directed by the CCP. It is further alleged that while studying at Boston University’s (BU) Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering from October 2017 to April 2019, Ye continued to work as a PLA Lieutenant completing numerous assignments from PLA officers such as conducting research, assessing U.S. military websites and sending U.S. documents and information to China.
According to court documents, on April 20, 2019, federal officers interviewed Ye at Boston’s Logan International Airport. During the interview, it is alleged that Ye falsely claimed that she had minimal contact with two NUDT professors who were high-ranking PLA officers. However, a search of Ye’s electronic devices demonstrated that at the direction of one NUDT professor, who was a PLA Colonel, Ye had accessed U.S. military websites, researched U.S. military projects and compiled information for the PLA on two U.S. scientists with expertise in robotics and computer science. Furthermore, a review of a WeChat conversation revealed that Ye and the other PLA official from NUDT were collaborating on a research paper about a risk assessment model designed to decipher data for military applications. During the interview, Ye admitted that she held the rank of Lieutenant in the PLA and admitted she was a member of the CCP.
Zaosong Zheng
In August 2018, Zheng entered the United States on a J-1 visa and conducted cancer-cell research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston from Sept. 4, 2018, to Dec. 9, 2019. It is alleged that on Dec. 9, 2019, Zheng stole 21 vials of biological research and attempted to smuggle them out of the United States aboard a flight destined for China. Federal officers at Logan Airport discovered the vials hidden in a sock inside one of Zheng’s bags, and not properly packaged. It is alleged that initially, Zheng lied to officers about the contents of his luggage, but later admitted he had stolen the vials from a lab at Beth Israel. Zheng stated that he intended to bring the vials to China to use them to conduct research in his own laboratory and publish the results under his own name.
The charge of making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of visa fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of smuggling goods from the United States provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta; Michael Denning, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Boston Field Office; Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office; Philip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; and William Higgins, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann, Jason Casey and Benjamin Tolkoff of Lelling’s National Security Unit are prosecuting these cases with the assistance of trial attorneys William Mackie and David Aaron at the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
These case are part of the Department of Justice’s China Initiative, which reflects the strategic priority of countering Chinese national security threats and reinforces the President’s overall national security strategy. In addition to identifying and prosecuting those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking and economic espionage, the initiative will increase efforts to protect our critical infrastructure against external threats including foreign direct investment, supply chain threats and the foreign agents seeking to influence the American public and policymakers without proper registration.
Read more at: Justice.gov
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Beginning to give substance to the Chinese claim that the COVID-19 virus did originate in a lab in America. Also looking like the COVID-19 virus was engineered from the SARS virus, engineered to be much more contagious than the SARS virus, to be used as a tool by the ruling oligarchy to thin out the human population deliberately, generating huge profits for the super rich in the process. WOW!!!
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