ALBANY — Gerwin Schalk, a high-ranking neuroscientist at the state Health Department's Wadsworth Center, was charged in a federal complaint Friday with making false statements to hide his receipt of nearly $70,000 and a car from a European company that provided neurotechnology equipment to the research lab.

Schalk, 48, is deputy director of the National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, which is part of the Wadsworth Center. He is accused of falsely certifying that he had no conflicts of interest in forms that he signed when applying for and receiving federal research grants.

The Glenmont resident was required to disclose any financial conflicts of interest to both the state Health Department and its affiliate, Health Research, Inc., a nonprofit founded in 1953 that assists the agency in acquiring and administering research grants.

Schalk, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has a reputation within his field that spans national borders. He has spent more than a decade working with his fellow researchers developing techniques on the cutting edge of neurological science.

The lab's work has focused on developing technologies that help patients with damage caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, chronic pain and other devastating conditions.

Schalk was accompanied by his attorney, Michael Assaf of Albany, when he appeared on the charges during a short proceeding Friday afternoon in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, who ordered him released from custody under supervision of probation officials.

The company that allegedly paid Schalk at least $69,856 in payments between July 2013 and last April is not identified in the federal criminal complaint, which was filed against Schalk by a special agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General.

Schalk regularly purchased products from the unidentified company in connection with his research. The company billed the Health Research Institute $260,000 for equipment over a six-year period beginning in 2012 — most of it paid through federal grant funding.

Federal regulations require standards establishing "objectivity in research" and that "grants or cooperative agreements will be free from bias resulting from ... financial conflicts of interest."

Schalk has worked for the state Health Department since 1999. He signed at least 15 conflict of interest certifications since 2013 and never disclosed any payments from the unidentified supplier. The last payment he received from the company, in April, was for $4,367, according to the federal complaint.

In July 2017, Schalk purchased a used Toyota Scion for $14,840, with a check payable to the seller that was drawn from the neurotechnology supplier's bank account.

"Schalk registered and titled the car in his name, though based on my investigation I believe the car may have been driven primarily or exclusively by (the unnamed company's) employees," the special agent's complaint states. A year ago, Schalk transferred the title of the Toyota into the name of one of the supply company's employees.

Investigators obtained federal search warrants and also searched Schalk's personal office at the Center for Medical Science Building on New Scotland Avenue in Albany, where they found a lockbox inside of a locked filing cabinet that held approximately $1,000 in cash and multiple opened envelopes bearing the unidentified company's logo and containing handwritten numeric amounts that appeared to indicate they were cash payments.

There were also printed email communications, in German, between the company's founder and Schalk that listed what may have been an account number or access code, and also a ledger listing dated payments made in euros.

The documents seized from his office also included a written agreement with the company from 2016 titled "ECOG Brain Mapping Contract," which states that the company "will work with Gerwin Schalk to develop an ECoG brain mapping system and (the company) will sell the system on the international market. Gerwin will receive 10 percent for negotiations of sales price minus sales discount and 5 percent for sales. Development documents, code, plans will be kept confidential."

As a state employee, Schalk has been required to submit a yearly financial statement to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics and to disclose any outside income of more than $5,000. Schalk never disclosed his income from the supply company, the complaint states.

Schalk had obtained approval to accept outside income from at least six other companies between 2008 and 2013, according to the complaint.

The state inspector general's office, with assistance from the state Health Department, spearheaded the investigation. Schalk has been placed on administrative leave while his case is pending, state officials said.