Posted on 07/09/2020 3:34:01 PM PDT by ransomnote
A rheumatology professor and researcher with strong ties to China has been ordered held without bond to face a charge of grant fraud for not disclosing that he was engaged in a sophisticated scheme to use approximately $4.1 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop China’s expertise in the areas of rheumatology and immunology. He is also charged with making false statements about maintaining employment in China at the same time he was employed at universities in the United States, including The Ohio State University.
Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested Friday, May 22, 2020, after he arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, aboard a charter flight and as he prepared to board another charter flight to China. When he was arrested, he was carrying three large bags, one small suitcase and a briefcase containing two laptops, three cellular telephones, several USB drives, several silver bars, expired Chinese passports for his family, deeds for property in China and other items.
“Yet again, we are faced with a professor at a U.S. University, who is a member of a Chinese Talent Plan, allegedly and deliberately failing to disclose his relationship with a Chinese university and receipt of funds from the Chinese Government in order to obtain millions of dollars in U.S. grant money designed to benefit the health and well-being of the people of the United States — not to be hijacked to supplement the research goals of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “This case, like too many others, should serve as a reminder that the United States Government takes seriously the obligation of truthfulness and transparency on grant applications, and those who violate the law to benefit China or any other foreign nation will be held accountable.”
"This case highlights another example of a Chinese Talent Plan member allegedly using U.S. taxpayer funds for the benefit of the Chinese government," said Alan E. Kohler, Jr, Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. "According to the criminal complaint, Zheng violated laws concerning the use of federal research funds and did not disclose his employment in China. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to stop such illegal activity and protect U.S. research."
“We allege that Zheng was preparing to flee the country after he learned that his employer had begun an administrative process into whether or not he was complying with rules governing taxpayer-funded grants,” said David M. DeVillers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “This is our office’s third recent case involving the illegal transfer of intellectual property and research to China. This underscores our commitment to work with the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and our research institutions to protect our country’s position as a global leader in research and innovation, and to punish those who try to exploit and undermine that position.”
"The taxpayers of the United States are the real victims when researchers defraud our government and exploit our system to benefit China,” stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman. “The cutting-edge technologies that are being developed in our country must be carefully protected from our foreign adversaries and the FBI will continue to work with our partners to safeguard these important innovations.”
A criminal complaint filed May 23 and unsealed following today’s detention hearing charges Zheng with one count of fraud or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison, and one count of making false statements, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers ordered Zheng held without bond because he is a flight risk. The case will be presented to a federal grand jury for possible indictment. The investigation is continuing.
An affidavit filed with the complaint alleges that, since 2013, Zheng has been participating in a Chinese Talent Plan, a program established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with knowledge or access to foreign technology intellectual property. Since then, Zheng has used research conducted in the U.S. to benefit the People’s Republic of China. Zheng allegedly failed to disclose conflicts of interest or his foreign commitments to his U.S. employers or to the NIH.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney DeVillers, and Christopher Hoffman, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Cincinnati Field Division announced the criminal complaint. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas W. Squires and Courter Shimeall, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher St. Pierre, and Trial Attorney Matthew J. McKenzie with the Department of Justice National Security Division are representing the United States in this case.
A criminal complaint merely contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
He was making a run for it: "Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested Friday, May 22, 2020, after he arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, aboard a charter flight and as he prepared to board another charter flight to China. When he was arrested, he was carrying three large bags, one small suitcase and a briefcase containing two laptops, three cellular telephones, several USB drives, several silver bars, expired Chinese passports for his family, deeds for property in China and other items."
Under Trump, the researcher gets charged.
Under the CommieCrats, they’d get the research benefits which would be converted into money to further subvert the U.S. (and give some corrupt Biden (is there anything else?) another silly useless job.
Is it true he had Hunter Bidens Business Card in his pocket??
For every one we catch I’ll bet ten slip away. The ChiCom Central Committee must laugh for hours over how stupid the Americans are.
Apologies for the parenthesis fever! Bad me, bad me!
Under Trump, the researcher gets charged.
Under the CommieCrats, they’d get the research benefits which would be converted into money to further subvert the U.S. (and give some corrupt Biden (is there anything else?) another silly useless job.
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I notice many of these crimes date back to Obama’s years. I think they are combing through files/records after bigger fish, and in their investigations, turning up crime after crime re smaller fish. This is the third criminal charge for university staff employed by the Chinese Talent program.
U.S. Grant funds? From the royalties earned by Grant’s memoirs?
Many of the crimes originate or were conducted from start to stop within the Obama years. I’ve seen charges against people committing crimes from 2014 through 2015, which means they are going back in time and I imagine people thought they were safe, that was 5 years ago.
In this case, the crime started in 2013 and continued to present.
You beat me to it. Poor U.S. Grant. First they tear down his statue now they steal his funds.
If it was good enough for Ethyl and Julius, it’s good enough for Song Gho Zheng. And defund universities. Use the savings to prop up de-funded police forces.
‘Redeemable in gold...’ that bill must have been around a while.
‘Redeemable in gold...’ that bill must have been around a while.
Giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The Constitution has a word for that.
Not a very hi-res image, but I zoomed in and it looks like a Series Nineteen Twenty-something.
Keeping up these investigations alone is good enough reason for retaining a Trump presidency.
Treason = Firing Squad = Problem solved
In this line of justice we are seeing much progress. Gives some hope for more pressing matters.
Feds in Washington don’t check on anything. Oh, wait, ....The Dems know how to keep on fighting.
The biggest problem is not ChineseCommunist fraud of taxpayers. That is a minor concern compared to the infiltration, saturation, subversion of ALL US institutions academia, media, entertainment, politics, even defense by ChiCom national ‘students’, ‘academics’, ‘businessmen’ and ‘tourists.
At a MINIMUM Chinese nationals should be ejected wholesale and most investigated for treason!
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