Former Harvard scientist sentenced for hiding China ties

A former Harvard University scientist received two years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $83,000 in fines after being convicted of hiding his ties to a Chinese state-run recruitment program.

In December 2021, Charles Lieber was convicted on charges on making false statements, filing false tax returns, and failing to report a Chinese bank account, the Epoch Times reported. He also spent two days in jail as part of the sentence.

He further received a $50,000 fine and had to pay the IRS $33,600 in restitution. 

The case was part of the Department of Justice's China Initiative, a Trump administration effort to combat illicit operations of the Chinese Communist Party.

Lieber was an avid participant in China's Thousand Talents program, which aims to attract educated individuals worldwide to promote the development of the Asian superpower.

He further signed a contract in 2012 with the Wuhan University of Technology for a monthly salary of up to $50,000 for which he would publish papers for the university, engage in joint research, and host WUT students at his lab at Harvard, per the Times.

Without Harvard's knowledge, he also agreed to serve as co-director for the "Joint WUT-Harvard Joint Nano Key Laboratory" at WUT.

Lieber's attorney Marc Mukasey indicated that he was satisfied with the sentence, saying "[w]e’re happy with the way it turned out, justice was done."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.