Harvard professor indicted for lying to federal investigators about China funding

In a recent post I briefly talked about government investigations and their importance. I also outlined some things individuals and companies should do if an attorney has not yet been retained, but an investigation presents itself.

As I noted in the post, should you find yourself engaged by law enforcement never, ever lie or provide false documents. Ever.

The case below illustrates this point. The facts below have been alleged by the government and can be found by reading the Complaint and Indictment issued by a federal grand jury.

Dr. Charles Lieber is a former Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department. Like most professors, his lab received funds from the U.S. federal government. In this case, beginning in 2008, his lab received over $15,000,000 in grants from the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health.

As anyone who has been involved in federally funded university research programs knows, the government imposes a number of reporting requirements on recipients of grant money. One very important point is these grants require the recipient to disclose whether any foreign money has been provided to the research group.

Meanwhile, in 2008, the Chinese government established a talent recruitment plan called the “Thousand Talents Program” (TTP). Under the TTP, China incentivized researchers to transmit data and knowledge gained in the U.S. to China in exchange for salaries, funding, and the like. In other words, to mostly steal U.S. technology.

Unbeknownst to Harvard University, Lieber signed an employment agreement with Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in China as part of the TTP. Lieber received $158,000 for 3 years’ living expenses, $50,000/month in salary and $1,740,000 to build out his lab in China.

In 2013, an Academic Cooperative Agreement was signed between Lieber, WUT and Harvard. Lieber signed the Agreement on behalf of the University. The purpose of the Agreement was to carry out R&D work on nano-wire based lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries. Under the Agreement, WUT researchers would work in Lieberman’s Harvard lab several months per year.

In 2015, Harvard finally learned of Lieber’s relationship with WUT. It appears Harvard took no substantive action.

In April of 2018, the NIH and DOD approached Lieber and Harvard to inquire about foreign funding and whether Lieber was part of the TTP. Rather than tell the truth, he lied.

On June 9, 2020 Lieber was indicted on two counts of violating 18 USC 1001(a)(2) by providing false statements to DOD and NIH investigators. Violation of this section of federal law provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

It’s worth repeating — should you find yourself being engaged by law enforcement never, ever lie or provide false documents. Ever.

As a side note, this case is bound to bring up several other legal issues. First, did Lieber report all of his WUT earnings to the relevant tax authorities, given the fact it appears the WUT funds were provided to him in cash as well as deposited in a Chinese bank.

This case also reminds us of the importance of implementing compliance policies and ensuring the policies are followed (e.g. through training). Outside work policies, policies requiring legal review and approval of all contracts, as well as U.S. export control and foreign corrupt practices law are just a few of the several compliance practices that could be relevant in this case.