A federal choose has dismissed costs in opposition to Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) accused of mendacity about his ties to China.
It was one of many highest profile circumstances below the federal government’s 3-year-old China Initiative, which is meant to stop China from stealing U.S.-funded analysis. Critics of the initiative say it has unfairly focused scientists of Chinese descent in attempting to implement ambiguous guidelines about what scientists have to disclose about their analysis actions when making use of for a federal grant.
“Today is a great day,” mentioned Rob Fisher, Chen’s lawyer, in an announcement reported by The Washington Post and different media retailers. “The government finally acknowledged what we have said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man. … He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose, and he never lied to the government or anyone else.”
U.S. Department of Justice legal professionals this morning requested District Court Judge Patti Saris to dismiss the fees as a result of the federal government had “obtained additional information … on the defendant’s alleged omissions” and that, in consequence, it “can no longer meet its burden of proof at trial.”
Chen was indicted in January 2021 and charged with mendacity to the Department of Energy on a 2017 grant utility, failing to report a international checking account, and making a false assertion on his tax return. His is considered one of two dozen comparable circumstances introduced in opposition to educational scientists below the China Initiative. Chen was by no means charged with abetting the Chinese authorities nor espionage, and MIT officers are paying for his authorized protection, a rarity among the many circumstances.
“All of us who know Gang are deeply relieved,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif mentioned in an announcement. “We are eager for his full return to our community.” Referring to the toll on his household from the federal government’s prosecution, Reif mentioned, “It is difficult to reconcile and accept the pain and anguish that such good people, people we are proud and fortunate to know, have endured over the last 2 years.”
The U.S. authorities has a 50-50 report in two earlier circumstances that went earlier than juries. Last month, Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber was discovered responsible of failing to reveal his analysis ties to China, and in September 2021 a federal choose acquitted Anming Hu, a former engineering professor on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, after his earlier trial led to a hung jury.
Update, 20 January, 1 p.m.: This story has been up to date with the most recent data from the courtroom proceedings.