A University of Arkansas engineering professor was busted on a wire fraud charge for failing to reveal ties to the Chinese government and businesses while trying to get federal grants from NASA, the Justice Department said.
Simon Saw-Teong Ang, 63, of Fayetteville, received more than $5 million in federal funding for research projects but violated university policy by failing to reveal his ties to Beijing, Fox News reported.
He was arrested Friday and made a court appearance Monday.
The investigation began when a library employee found an email between Ang and a Chinese researcher, the Arkansas Times reported.
“You can search the Chinese website regarding what the US will do to Thousand Talent Scholars,” Ang reportedly wrote in the email.
“Not many people here know I am one of them but if this leaks out, my job here will be in deep troubles.”
Ang faces up to 20 years behind bars.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has lured Chinese talent and foreign experts from the US and elsewhere overseas to further its scientific development through its so-called “Thousand Talents Program.”
A Harvard University professor who allegedly participated in the program is accused of lying to officials about his alleged Chinese ties.
Charles Lieber, who chaired the school’s chemistry and chemical biology department, was busted in January and charged with one count of making a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement.