A former professor at Emory University and participant in communist China’s “Thousand Talents” has pled guilty to filing a false tax return after the DOJ alleged he hid more than $500,000 in payments from China.

Former Emory University professor Xiao-Jiang Li, who is also involved in China’s “Thousand Talents” program, pled guilty to the charge of filing a false tax return last week and was sentenced by a U.S. District Judge to probation and paying restitution, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The “Thousand Talents” program is an initiative created by the Chinese government to provide grants to scientists outside of China in exchange for access to research performed in their country, often funded by the American government.

The DOJ said that Li joined Thousand Talents in 2011 while working at Emory University and that between 2012 and 2018 — while still employed at Emory — Li also worked at two Chinese universities where he conducted similar research.

Over those six years, Li earned at least $500,000 in income from Chinese sources, which he failed to report on his federal income tax returns, according to the DOJ.

“The Department of Justice remains vigilant over programs such as the Thousand Talents Program that recruits professors and researchers to work for China,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “In this case Li was caught in his lack of transparency.”

“This defendant thought that he could live two, separate lives — one here at Emory University and one in China as a Thousand Talents Program participant,” added U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak.

Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division noted that the case involving Li demonstrates “the FBI is committed to working with our partners to prevent individuals from utilizing the Chinese Government’s talent plan programs to commit fraud against the United States government and our universities.”

Li was sentenced to one year of probation and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $35,089.

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