(CNN) – Federal agents arrested an Arkansas professor who allegedly did not reveal that he had ties to Chinese entities during the course of obtaining funds for a NASA research project, the Justice Department announced. United States .
Simon Saw-Teong Ang, 63, of Fayetteville, was arrested Friday by FBI agents and charged with wire fraud, according to a criminal complaint and an affidavit obtained by CNN.
Authorities alleged that Ang, a professor of electrical engineering and a researcher at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville (UA) since 1988, defrauded NASA and the university “by not disclosing that he held other positions at a Chinese university and Chinese companies” in violation of conflict of interest policies, according to the affidavit of an FBI special agent supporting the complaint.
“Ang made false statements and did not report his external employment to the UA, which allowed Ang to keep his job at the UA and obtain research funds [del Gobierno de EE.UU.], ”According to the affidavit filed in the Arkansas District Court.
As part of their investigation, authorities said Ang received various grants and contracts from federal agencies, including NASA.
The affidavit states that, while working for the university, “Ang’s close ties to the Chinese government and employment with numerous Chinese companies would have made him ineligible to receive grants issued by United States government agencies.”
CNN on Tuesday contacted a lawyer representing Ang for comment. An initial appearance in court was held on Monday.
The university is “actively cooperating” with the research
John Thomas, a university spokesman, said in a statement to CNN: “Simon Ang has been suspended without payment of his responsibilities to the university and the university is actively cooperating with the federal government to investigate this matter.”
The FBI affidavit says authorities discovered Ang’s alleged links to Chinese interests after a university employee tried to identify the owner of a hard drive that was put in the lost and found section of the campus library.
While reviewing the contents of the hard drive, which was later turned over to the FBI, according to the affidavit, the employee discovered an email exchange between Ang and a visiting researcher at Xidian University in Xi’an, China.
In the September 2018 email discussion, Ang wrote that things were getting difficult for him due to the weather politician current, according to the affidavit.
“You can search the Chinese website for what the United States will do to Thousand Talent Scholars (” Thousand Talent Scholars “),” Ang wrote, according to the complaint, adding: “Not many people here know that I am one of them, but if this leaks, my work here will be in serious trouble. “
According The FBI, partners with China’s Thousand Talents program are people who work or study outside of China in high-priority research fields. Although they are not traditional spies, investigators say they are nevertheless gathering investigative information sought by Chinese authorities.
Fraud charge
“Although the mere participation in a talent plan is not illegal”, said In a testimony before Congress last year, John Brown, the FBI’s senior executive for Homeland Security, “investigations by the FBI and our partner agencies have revealed that participants are often encouraged to transfer the research they carry out to China in the United States, as well as other proprietary information that they can access, and they remain a significant threat to the United States. ”
According to the criminal complaint, Ang revealed his participation in a Thousand Talents Scholars to university in 2014, but did not report their participation in other programs between 2012 and 2018.
While the FBI’s reference to the Thousand Talents Scholars program refers to an area typically worked by the agency’s counterintelligence investigators, the federal charge stated in the criminal complaint against Ang is related to wire fraud rather than espionage.
In particular, authorities allege that Ang committed fraud, in 2016, by facilitating the submission of a proposal to NASA for a contract worth more than half a million dollars, without disclosing possible conflicts of interest associated with his hidden involvement with Chinese entities. Their proposal was finally selected by NASA.
If you are found guilty, they say Federal officials Ang faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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