January 14, local time, according to the official website of the U.S. Department of Justice, Chen Gang, a member of the American Academy of Engineering and professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was prosecuted and arrested for failing to disclose his work and awards in China to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Gang Chen, 56, was charged with fraud, failure to file foreign bank account reports, and false statements on tax returns. He was in District Judge Donald L. on the same day.
Cabell made his first appearance in court.
According to information disclosed on the website of the U.S. Department of Justice, the charges of wire fraud in the United States are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
The charges of false statements stipulate that the maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Allegations of failure to submit foreign bank account reports are punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, three years of regulatory release, and a fine of $250,000.
The judgment will be made by a federal district court judge in accordance with the United States sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
According to the allegation documents, Chen Gang is a Chinese-American (graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and serves as the director of the MIT Paparado Micronano Engineering Laboratory and the director of the Solid Solar Thermal Conversion Center.
His research at MIT has received over $19 million in grants from federal agencies since around 2013.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice documents, Chen Gang has held a number of positions in China since 2012, aiming to promote China’s scientific and technological development and obtain economic compensation by providing advice and expertise.
Since 2013, he has allegedly received about $29 million in foreign funding, including $19 million from China Southern University of Science and Technology.
Even the United States checked Chen Gang’s email.
The DOJ document highlights his efforts to promote China’s scientific and economic development and discloses many details:
- 1. Promote cooperation with China;
- 2. It is suggested that China should take innovation (science) as the key and core;
- 3. China’s economy ranks second, but its technology and human resources are far behind;
- 4. We are paying huge environmental costs, unsustainable costs, and labor costs;
- 5. For environmental protection and economic development, we must rely on technology and not develop as in the past;
- 6. Scientific innovation is at the core, and we realize that not only independent innovation, but also internationalization is needed to plan and promote. Innovation in building cars behind closed doors is not feasible, and innovation is also the driving force.
DOJ documents also show that from at least 2017 to 2019, Chen Gang held multiple advisory positions in China, and he also applied for and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund some of his research at MIT.
In the process, he did not disclose his relationship with China as required by the Department of Energy.
In addition, Chen Gang did not disclose to the IRS on his 2018 tax return that he had a bank account in China for more than $10,000 in 2018.
MIT Principal L. Rafael Reif shocked the sending emails to the school’s faculty and students, and said that Chen Gang, a widely respected scholar and teacher, was surprised, deeply painful and incomprehensible.
