Posted on 05/19/2020 4:14:36 AM PDT by EBH
WASHINGTON, D. C. - A former Cleveland Clinic researcher who received more than $3.6 million in National Institutes of Health grants is facing criminal charges for failing to disclose his ties to Chinese universities and his connections to a Chinese government program described as a conduit for theft of U.S. intellectual property.
The FBI and officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general’s office arrested Dr. Qing Wang on Wednesday at his Shaker Heights home. Prosecutors say Wang appeared Thursday before Magistrate Judge Jonathan D. Greenberg, who released him on $100,000 bond and required him to surrender his passports and restrict his travel to northern Ohio.
A criminal complaint released to reporters on Thursday says Wang faces charges of false claims and wire fraud. An attorney for Wang said he asserts his innocence.
“Dr. Wang is a citizen of the United States,” said a statement from Wang’s lawyer, Brandon J. Henderson. “As we all know, being presumed innocent is a legal right enjoyed by our citizens. The burden of proving his guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt, rests entirely with the Government. We respectfully request that Dr. Wang and his family be treated with this respect throughout this process.”
The complaint says Wang “knowingly failed” to tell NIH he held the position of Dean of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and that he received grant money from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for some of the same scientific research funded by the NIH grant. It says NIH approved its grants for Wang’s Cleveland Clinic research based on his “false representations and promises.”
Investigators also allege that Wang participated in the Thousand Talents Program, which the Chinese government established to recruit people with access to or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. China provided Wang with $3 million in research support for his lab in China. It also gave him free travel and lodging for his trips to China, including a three-bedroom apartment campus for his personal use, authorities said. This occurred while Wang was received NIH grant money without disclosing his ties to China. “Dr. Wang failed to disclose to NIH and/or the Cleveland Clinic that he was under an obligation with the Chinese government to share his U.S.-funded research with entities located in China in any of his annual disclosure requirements,” the complaint says.
The complaint says Wang was born in the People’s Republic of China, accepted a Cleveland Clinic research position in 1997, and became a U.S. citizen in 2005. It says he’s a professor of Molecular Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and also holds a professorship at the Lerner Research Institute.
It also says Wang failed to tell both NIH and Cleveland Clinic that he is married to Dr. Quiyun Chen, a member of his research team who was listed as a co-investigator, which violated the clinic’s conflict of interest policies and NIH standards of conduct.
A statement from FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith said Wang “engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud,” deliberately failing to disclose his Chinese grants and foreign positions.
Needs to go away for a very, very long time.
The Chinese are crooked and sleazy. It obviously does not matter if they are citizens. Their allegiance is to China.
“ Dr. Wang failed to disclose to NIH and/or the Cleveland Clinic that he was under an obligation with the Chinese government to share his U.S.-funded research with entities located in China in any of his annual disclosure requirements,” the complaint says.”
The NIH HAS TOO MUCH MONEY!!
There’s more where that came from.
People think of Cleveland as just a small midwestern place. However, it is LOADED, and I mean LOADED with international folks, due to it’s medical magnet of C. Clinic and University Hospitals.
People think of Cleveland as just a small midwestern place. However, it is LOADED, and I mean LOADED with international folks,
The scientific institutions, and there are plenty, are loaded with all sorts of cats. Case Western, the Clinic, University. And don’t forget about Akron. There’s a lot of stuff down there, too.
It will take a miracle to uproot all the bad actors :(
He was awarded research $ from NIH and the Chinese. The Chinese contract said he had to share. WTH is right.
However, was the Chinese contract vetted through the US Government? Whenever this has been done in other situations, there must be a full review by competent OGC (Office of General Counsel) authorities. And there is no OGC which would allow sending this information in response to CCP directives.
That is one reasons for the arrest. 1) it’s not permitted to share information
2) he did not disclose his contract/dealings with the CCP (at least that’s how I interpreted it.
Laura Ingraham spoke of academia/NIH funding etc with Dr. Knut Wittkowski on her program last nite:
18 May: Ingraham Angle, Fox News
7m in, Dr. Knut Wittkowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frf4mebaaxg
whole show is worth watching.
One should not paint with a broad brush....but if China is part of the equation, we must. My starting point is not one of blind trust with any of them.
“The Chinese are crooked and sleazy. It obviously does not matter if they are citizens. Their allegiance is to China.”
My husband experienced that with the Chinese students when getting his PhD at Berkeley. After that, during his career, it was rampant throughout the Physics discipline in every organization where he worked.
I’ve always felt the same way about generalizations. But, I’ll admit it. It’s taken about 15 years to come to that personal conclusion. 10 of those years were daily interactions. I’ve yet in that time to be provided with anything to change my mind. Then this virus hit. It’s my personal opinion. Everyone can have their own. I make no worldwide decisions based on my bias. It is what it is.
And I’ll add one more. They are not too bright. Anyone can be book smart with the time involved. People can be trained. They lack something called ‘common sense ‘
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