A prominent American scientist who was also mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize has been criminally punished for collaborating with the Chinese government and hiding the fact that he received money.
Local media such as the Associated Press reported on the 26th that the Boston Federal District Court sentenced former Harvard University Chemistry and Biology Professor Charles River (64) to six months of house arrest and a fine of 50,000 dollars.
In 2011, Lieber received $50,000 a month from Wuhan Institute of Technology in China and participated in the Chinese government’s talent recruitment program.
The Chinese government has been running a talent recruitment program to acquire cutting-edge research achievements from foreign scientists.
While it is not illegal for American scientists to participate in China’s talent recruitment programs, scientists receiving US government funding must disclose their ties to foreign governments.
However, Lieber hid his ties to China, and he did not report to tax authorities that he had received the money.
China paid 158,000 dollars (about 210 million won) to former dean River in addition to 50,000 dollars a month.
According to the prosecution, the Chinese government paid Lieber the promised amount in $100 bills and opened an account with a local bank in China.
The amount of taxes that former Dean Lieber did not omit in his return amounts to $33,600 (approximately 45 million won).
The court also ordered former Dean River to pay taxes on the same day.
The court’s sentence of house arrest rather than the usual prison sentence appears to have considered the fact that Lieber is currently battling cancer.
In court that day, River’s head bowed, saying, “I regret what I did, and I will take responsibility.”
However, his lawyer said after the verdict that he was “thankful to the court” but emphasized that River’s criminal prosecution had nothing to do with espionage.
Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. government intensively hunted down Chinese-funded scholars on the grounds that it needed to stop China from stealing key U.S. technology.