$1M cash bond set in case of Harvard professor accused of concealing China ties

Federal Agents arrested Dr. Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, with lying to the Department of Defense about secret monthly payments of $50,000.00 paid by China and receipt of millions more to help set up a chemical/biological “Research” laboratory in China.

Also arrested…. two Chinese “Students” working as research assistants, one of whom was actually a lieutenant in the Chinese Army, the other captured at Logan Airport as he tried to catch a flight to China – smuggling 21 vials of “Sensitive Biological Samples” according to the FBI.

Oh, almost forgot. The research lab the good professor had helped set up is located at the Wuhan University of Technology. Wuhan China is ground zero to the potentially global pandemic known as the “Coronavirus”which is spreading rapidly and killing people.

This is Stephen Coonts international spy novel stuff happening in real life – and it has barely made the news.

Harvard University Chemistry Department chairman Dr. Charles Lieber is being required to post $1 million cash bond after he was accused of lying to federal authorities about his ties to China.

Lieber, 60, was arrested Tuesday, hours before U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling hosted a press conference discussing three similar, but unrelated cases in which scientists affiliated with Boston-area institutions are accused of trying to provide clandestine scientific aid to the People’s Republic of China.

Lieber was led into a federal courtroom Thursday afternoon with his hands cuffed behind his back. His wife was seated in the first row of the gallery.

The judge required Lieber to post bond in cash and ruled that the value of his Lexington home could not be accepted because the university owns a portion of the property. Additionally, the judge required Lieber and his wife to surrender their passports.

The judge is requiring Dr. Charles Lieber to post $1 million cash bond. She will not accept the value of his home in Lexington because Harvard owns a third of the house. Lieber and his wife must both surrender their passports. #WCVB — Jennifer Eagan (@Jennifer_Eagan) January 30, 2020

Lieber may be released from custody Thursday and in that case he would have one week to post the bond money or else be rearrested.

According to a criminal complaint, Lieber did not disclose that he was being paid a salary of up to $50,000 per month and up to $158,000 per year in living expenses by China’s Thousand Talents Plan and the Wuhan University of Technology. Federal investigators also determined that Lieber was awarded more than $1.5 million to establish a nanotechnology research lab at WUT.

“China’s Thousand Talents Plan, according to the complaint (is) a Chinese government-run program designed to entice scientists and researchers in the United States to share their research expertise with China,” said Lelling.

Lieber is accused of making false statements about his connections to China on National Institutes of Health grant applications. Lelling said those programs required Lieber to disclose if he was working with any foreign power.

“The charges brought by the U.S. government against Prof. Lieber are extremely serious. Harvard is cooperating with federal authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, and is conducting its own review of the alleged misconduct,” a Harvard spokesperson said Tuesday. “Professor Lieber has been placed on indefinite administrative leave.”

Lieber could face up to five years in prison if he is convicted.

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