NASA Researcher Sentenced for Concealing China Ties

Epoch Times ^ | 06/17/2021 | Isabel Van Brugen

[SeekAndFind]

A senior NASA scientist has been sentenced to 30 days in prison, months after he pleaded guilty to lying about his ties to a program backed by the Chinese regime designed to harvest talents from the West and transfer intellectual property to China.

Meyya Meyyappan, 66, of Pacifica, California, was sentenced on June 16 for making false statements to the FBI, NASA’s Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Justice Department announced in a news release.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.

Meyyappan joined NASA in 1996 and had been the chief scientist for exploration technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley since 2006.

Prosecutors said that Meyyappan had participated in China’s state-run Thousand Talents Plan. The Thousand Talents program has recruited thousands of experts globally since 2008, according to Chinese state media reports. He held positions at universities in China, South Korea, and Japan without NASA’s knowledge, according to prosecutors.

NASA prohibits “any outside employment activities” without approval, including engagement as a speaker or teacher, U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss said in the court complaint. As a NASA employee, Meyyappan is also required to annually report any additional income exceeding $5,000, gifts, and travel reimbursements.

Meyyappan failed to disclose these activities to NASA. Around 2016, he applied for and was accepted into the Thousand Talents Plan. Through the program, he traveled to China and recommended other candidates into the program, prosecutors said. From 2014, he worked as a visiting professor at a Chinese research university. He gave lectures, wrote research papers, and received compensation for his travel.

Meyyappan denied his membership in the Thousand Talents Plan and his employment at Chinese institutions when federal investigators questioned him in October 2020.

[Secret Agent Man]

Wow just a mere 30 days.

I wonder if he told them he identified as a woman.

[Lurker]

“ Meyyappan failed to disclose these activities to NASA. Around 2016, he applied for and was accepted into the Thousand Talents Plan. Through the program, he traveled to China and recommended other candidates into the program, prosecutors said.”

In other words, a spy who recruited a ring of spies.

He should be shot.

L

[Mark17]

Wow just a mere 30 days.

With a heavy sentence like that, I am sure he will never do that again. /S

[a fool in paradise]

>> 30 days in prison, months after he pleaded guilty to lying about his ties to a program backed by the Chinese regime designed to harvest talents from the West and transfer intellectual property to China.

30 days?

Time off for good behavior?

Any time credited while awaiting the trial?

[Right Wing Vegan]

“Thousand Talents scholars” commonly do not disclose participation.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Sounds like they (probably) caught him early enough to prevent some real spying.

[Bookshelf]

Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology
NASA Ames Research Center
PhD, Chemical Engineering, Clarkson University
MS, Chemical Engineering, Ashton University
BS, Chemical Engineering, Madras University

Dr. Meyya Meyyappan is a founding member of the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology established by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This working group was responsible for putting together the National Nanotechnology Initiative. For his contributions to the field, he was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in 2009.

[Night Hides Not]

Is he still working for NASA? The article was unclear on that.