Harvard’s top chemist arrested, accused of hiding Chinese government ties


Charles Lieber, Harvard University

The head of Harvard University’s chemistry department has been arrested on charges related to his alleged ties to China’s communist government.

Charles Lieber, 60, is accused of lying to the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health about his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Program. The program was reportedly started by China in 2008 allegedly to entice U.S. scientists and researchers to improperly hand over U.S. research.

Under Lieber’s Thousand Talents program contract, prosecutors say Wuhan University of Technology in China paid $50,000 a month and provided Lieber with living expenses up to $158,000. Authorities say Lieber also received more than $1.5 million to set up a research lab at Wuhan University of Technology. In return, Lieber allegedly agreed to provide multiple services for the Chinese university including publishing articles and applying for patents.

Harvard has placed Lieber on indefinite administrative leave.

Relationships among U.S. academics, academic institutions, and China have come under scrutiny with China’s reported theft of American intellectual property. Investigators say the Chinese government deploys numerous tactics to steal valuable research and other information, often material funded at U.S. taxpayer expense. The tactics include recruiting or using academics and students at American universities.

Prosecutors also charged a Boston University researcher, Yanqing Ye, with lying about her ties to the Chinese military. She is said to now be in China.

A Chinese medical student was also recently charged with attempting to smuggle research specimens to China. Zaosong Zheng was in the U.S. on a Harvard-sponsored visa and allegedly stole the vials of material from a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center lab. An attorney for Zheng has said he is not guilty.

Prosecutors say all three of the China-connected suspects were working “directly or indirectly…for the Chinese government at our country’s expense.”

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has been investigating China’s theft of U.S. scientific research since October 2018.

“Americans have invested billions of dollars in scientific research through direct funding and the tax code,” Grassley said in a statement issued after Lieber’s arrest. ” Taxpayers deserve to know that those resources are kept safe and not stolen or misused by foreign organizations or governments. I’m glad the FBI appears to be taking foreign threats to taxpayer-funded research seriously, but I fear that this case is only the tip of the iceberg. For years, the Chinese communist government has taken advantage of our educational and research system that encourages collaboration, openness and the sharing of information. This is a concerted effort. At the very least, individuals conducting research within the United States should be required to disclose any foreign ties, especially if taxpayers are footing the bill.”

According to Grassley, National Institutes of Health research projects have been referred to the inspector general for their failure to disclose foreign affiliations. Also, the Health and Human Services Inspector General released a report NIH’s failure to consider the risks posed by providing foreign individuals access to sensitive information.

According to Sen. Grassley’s office:

  • Grassley also wrote to the HHS OIG on January 17, 2019 requesting actions the OIG has taken with respect to threats to research integrity. Last September, Grassley called for immediate action on three HHS OIG reports that raised concern about NIH research oversight.
  • In August of last year, Grassley sent a letter to the Comptroller General of the United States requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) perform a review of how the federal government is implementing conflict-of-interest policies in taxpayer-supported research and what updates should be made by the executive branch to shore up its ability to detect and deter foreign threats to research. GAO has agreed to perform such a review.
  • Grassley has also extensively probed grant integrity at the National Science Foundation. 
  • Grassley is also probing foreign threats to Department of Defense (DoD) research, finding that DoD does not vet all researchers working on taxpayer-funded projects, as well as numerous other failures in due diligence.
  • Grassley has also written to the Justice Department about concerns relating to Confucius Institutes and their abuse of our academic environment and why they have not registered as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

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8 thoughts on “Harvard’s top chemist arrested, accused of hiding Chinese government ties”

  1. “Prosecutors say that under Lieber’s Thousand Talents program contract, Wuhan University of Technology in China paid

    Under Lieber’s Thousand Talents program contract, prosecutors say Wuhan University of Technology in China paid $50,000 a month…”

    Seems like this the wording was changed, adding the section of the contract, while leaving part of the original wording.

  2. I have read and heard somewhere that during Obama administration, he invited Chinese and Iranian government to learn how to hack our electrical grid. I don’t know if it’s true. It’s worth doing an investigation.

  3. Oh my Lord have mercy for the GREED OF TALENTED PEOPLE. GOD CAN TAKE AWAY THOSE BRAINS N LEAVE IT IN HALO…..

    BRIBERY IS NO CLASS N ETHICS IS TRASH OUT.
    Is he the brain of this Corona virus existence / creation? Investigate please….
    Remedy must be at hand already before this pandemics illness was pushed through. It is all about MONEY MAKING SYSTEM….
    AND TO ATTRACT THE GLOBE IN Fear of death . Where is justice…. where is peace?

  4. Jennifer Ullstrom

    Communist ideology has permeated our Country at the state level too by removing our inalienable right to choose what we put into ours and our children’s bodies. Every piece of legislation mandating vaccination is based on falsified data. Thousands of families have spoken out on how vaccines damaged or killed their children, thousands of studies have proven there are serious risks associated with vaccines, lawsuits have been won proving vaccines are not safety tested, the WHO admits they have no safety policies in place for the vaccines forced into third world countries, a BlueCross/BlueShield report highlights the Millennial Generation is the sickest on record and will cost the US billions in health care and lost workers…and yet these laws forcing every child to receive at least 62 vaccines by the age of 18 continue to be passes by Democrats. The entire scenario reeks of bribery and corruption as it clearly is not motivated by public health. What is happening is a true crime against our future and we are going to pay dearly if it is not stopped. By 2025, the cost to taxpayers to pay for autism care alone is projected to be 1.1 TRILLION dollars, more than defense. Listen to True Cost of Autism with Political Economist Toby Rogers, PhD at the 1:11.00 mark for more information on The Highwire with Del Bigtree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzYZwiJNX-0

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