Jail term and fines for former Harvard professor who hid China ties

Dr. Charles Lieber, a former chair of Harvard University’s Chemical Biology Department, was sentenced for lying to federal authorities over his affiliations with the Wuhan University of Technology (‘WUT’) in China and with a Chinese government program to attract scientists and engineers from overseas.

Lieber, 64, was sentenced to time served (two days) in prison, two years of supervised release with six months of home confinement, a fine of $50,000, and $33,600 in restitution to the IRS. The government recommended a sentence of 90 days in prison and a $150,000 fine.

In December 2021, Lieber was convicted by a federal jury of two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, two counts of making and subscribing a false income tax return, and two counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts (FBAR) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said that between 2008 and 2019 while at Harvard, Lieber conducted research sponsored by various US government agencies, including the US Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health, valued at more than $15 million.

‘Unbeknownst to his employer, Harvard University, Lieber became a “Strategic Scientist” at WUT and, later, a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from at least 2012 through 2015,’ the attorney’s office said.

Harvard’s student newspaper wrote in February last year that ‘The Lieber trial resulted in the highest-profile conviction to date by the Department of Justice’s China Initiative, a controversial program launched under the Trump administration targeting those suspected of “trade secret theft” and “economic espionage”.’