Harvard Professor Who Lied About His Relationship To China Again Indicted

Harvard University Professor Charles Lieber (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - United States (US) federal prosecutors have added to the indictment of a Harvard University Professor, Charles Lieber, who stumbled on a case of false statements related to his relationship with China. This time he was accused of making a false income report that allegedly came from the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT).

Launching SCMP, the US Department of Justice said Lieber, who was a former chair of the chemistry department at Harvard University, failed to report his alleged earnings from WUT. He was charged several charges, namely making and paying counterfeit income taxes. Two other allegations he failed to file foreign bank statements and financial accounts with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and made false statements.

Lieber was first indicted in June for telling lies to US Department of Defense investigators about his relationship with WUT. He also lied to Harvard University about his connection to WUT. He became a strategic scientist at WUT without the knowledge of Harvard University.

Then, this US scientist was arrested on January 28. Later in June, Lieber pleaded not guilty on charges of making false statements.

Marc Mukasey, Lieber's lawyer said in a statement that Lieber was innocent. "He has nothing to hide, and he is not being paid as the government has alleged," Mukasey said.

The latest move in Lieber's criminal case comes as the Justice Department sued several investigators in recent weeks. This was done because there were allegations that the researchers were hiding their relationship with the Chinese government and military.

The Justice Department then announced charges against four Chinese scientists last week who had worked in the US without disclosing that they were members of the People's Liberation Army. The four were charged with visa fraud.

According to the Department of Justice, Lieber has received more than $ 15 million in research grants between 2008 and 2019 at Harvard. The report also explained that Lieber did not tell his university that he too had become a "strategic scientist" at WUT.

Lieber is also allegedly paid up to US $ 50,000 per month from WUT, received living expenses of up to US $ 150,000, and was awarded more than US $ 1.5 million to set up a research laboratory at WUT.

The additional indictment also states that Lieber did not disclose his income from WUT on federal income tax returns. He is also accused of opening a Chinese bank account with WUT officials to pay part of his salary. According to the US Department of Justice, Lieber did not report the bank account to the IRS, despite a legal requirement to do so.