Professor, NASA researcher accused of concealing PRC ties
A NASA researcher and Texas A&M University professor has been charged with accepting United States federal grant money while hiding work he was doing for a university established by the Chinese government as well as his affiliation with Chinese-owned companies.
Zhengdong Cheng faces charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and false statements, according to a criminal complaint released by the U.S. Department of Justice on August 24, 2020. He was arrested August 23.
The case is part of a pattern of Justice Department prosecutions against researchers at American universities who are accused of concealing their professional relationships with Chinese institutions. The U.S. government has been concerned that professors could exploit their ties to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and their participation in talent recruitment programs to steal intellectual property for Beijing’s economic benefit.
Prosecutors accuse Cheng, who was hired by Texas A&M in 2004, of concealing his work in the PRC even as his team of researchers received nearly U.S. $750,000 in grant money for space research. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is restricted from using funds for collaboration or coordination with the PRC, Chinese institutions or any Chinese-owned company.
Prosecutors say Cheng violated those restrictions by maintaining multiple undisclosed associations with the PRC. He served, for instance, as director of a soft matter institute at a technology university in Guangdong that was established by China’s Ministry of Education, and he jointly formed a technology company that designs microfluidic chips, according to the Justice Department.
He also participated in talent recruitment programs linked to the Chinese government that the U.S. says are designed to entice professors at U.S. universities to steal cutting-edge research that can be provided to the PRC.
John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M system, said the university worked closely with the FBI on the case.
Cheng’s university voicemail was full and could not accept messages. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick, the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Texas, said the talent recruitment programs exploit “our open and free universities.”
“China is building an economy and academic institutions with bricks stolen from others all around the world,” Patrick said in a statement.
