Harvard Professor Arrested, Charged For Hiding Financial Ties To China

A Harvard University chemistry professor was charged Tuesday for concealing his ties to the Chinese government.

Charles Lieber allegedly lied about his connection to a Chinese recruitment program and payments the foreign government was providing him with for his research. Lieber is the chair of Ivy League school’s department of chemistry and chemistry biology.

Lieber, 60, was arrested at his office on the Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus. He is expected to appear in court later in the day.

The program that Lieber was working with is known as China’s Thousand Talents Plan. It is intended to recruit individuals with connections to technology and intellectual property for the benefit of China and the Chinese government.

Lieber was allegedly paid $50,000 a month by the program in addition to $85,000 for living expenses. He also received $1.5 million to set up a research lab at Wuhan University in China.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling called Lieber’s charges “a small sample” of China’s covert attempts to acquire U.S. technology and research for its own use.

“No country poses a greater, more severe or long term threat to our national security and economic prosperity than China,” Boston-based FBI agent Joseph Bonavolonta said. “China’s communist government’s goal, simply put, is to replace the U.S. as the world superpower, and they are breaking the law to get there.”

Lieber is among the biggest names in American science to be connected with Chinese espionage. The FBI is reportedly investigating 180 potential cases of intellectual property theft at 71 institutions across the country.

Harvard has placed the professor on administrative leave and will be conducting its own investigation into his misconduct.

In addition to Lieber, authorities also arrested and charged Boston University researcher Yanqing Ye for concealing ties to the Chinese military. Prosecutors have accused Ye of being a lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army and sending sensitive documents and information to China.