A professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine was arrested on Wednesday over his alleged financial ties to the Chinese government. The FBI alleges that professor Qing Wang was providing research funded with taxpayer money to the Chinese communist government.
According to a report by Campus Reform, Professor Qing Wang was arrested in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on Wednesday on wire fraud charges. Wang allegedly failed to disclose his affiliations with several Chinese universities.
The FBI accused Wang of trying to provide the Chinese government with American taxpayer-funded research. Wang received $3.6 million in taxpayer funds from the National Institutes of Health for research he conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Robert R. Wells, acting assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, said that the Chinese-government is bribing professors of all nationalities to provide China with American research. Breitbart News reported in January that Harvard Chemistry Chair Charles Lieber had been arrested and charged with fraud over his financial ties to the Chinese government.
“As this case demonstrates, Chinese government-supported talent plans continue to encourage people, regardless of nationality, to commit crimes, such as fraud to obtain U.S. taxpayer-funded research,” Wells said. “The FBI and our partners will continue to rigorously investigate these illegal activities to protect our government, educational, and research institutions.”
U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio claims that Wang misled the National Institutes of Health about his relationship with the Chinese government.
“As alleged in the complaint, this defendant misled the National Institutes of Health about support he received and research he conducted in the People’s Republic of China,” Herdman said. “Federal law enforcement remains vigilant to fraudulent claims for grant support from any researcher who fails to disclose support from foreign governments and competing research interests in other countries. We appreciate the cooperation of this defendant’s former employer, the Cleveland Clinic, in the investigation and highlight the important partnerships between federal agencies, law enforcement, and the private sector demonstrated in this case.”
In a statement, Case Western Reserve University claimed that Wang was “not employed” by the university. Rather, they claim that Wang held a “faculty appointment title” for which he did not receive compensation.
“Like many highly qualified health professionals and researchers who work at our hospital partners, this person held a faculty appointment title but received no compensation from the university. While this individual was not employed by the university, we are grateful for federal investigators’ dedication to protecting our nation’s exceptional research efforts from wrongdoing,” the university wrote in a statement.
Breitbart News reported this week that a professor at the University of Arkansas was arrested after he failed to disclose his financial relationship with the Chinese government.