Whipped Cream Difficulties

I totally missed this story until I went over to Derek Lowe’s blog. In fairness, I think a lot of other folks have, too, and the NYT headline didn’t help much:

U.S. Accuses Harvard Scientist of Concealing Chinese Funding

It wasn’t just a “Harvard Scientist”. It was the chairman of the chemistry department. And he got taken away in handcuffs.

Dr. Lieber, a leader in the field of nanoscale electronics, has not been accused of sharing sensitive information with Chinese officials, but rather of hiding — from Harvard, from the National Institutes of Health and from the Defense Department — the amount of money that Chinese funders were paying him.

…

Dr. Lieber, 60, was charged with one count of making a false or misleading statement, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He appeared in court on Tuesday wearing the outfit he had put on to head to his office at Harvard: a Brooks Brothers polo shirt, cargo pants and hiking boots. He appeared subdued as he flipped through the charge sheet. Mr. Levitt, his lawyer, said it was his first opportunity to read the charge against him.

How much do you want to be that this is another example of “Really. Seriously. Shut the f–k up.“?

But wait! There’s more!

Dr. Lieber was one of three scientists to be charged with crimes on Tuesday.
Zaosong Zheng, a Harvard-affiliated cancer researcher was caught leaving the country with 21 vials of cells stolen from a laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, according to the authorities. They said he had admitted that he had planned to turbocharge his career by publishing the research in China under his own name. He was charged with smuggling goods from the United States and with making false statements, and was being held without bail in Massachusetts after a judge determined that he was a flight risk. His lawyer has not responded to a request for comment.
The third was Yanqing Ye, who had been conducting research at Boston University’s department of physics, chemistry and biomedical engineering until last spring, when she returned to China. Prosecutors said she hid the fact that she was a lieutenant in the People’s Liberation Army, and continued to carry out assignments from Chinese military officers while at B.U.

Derek Lowe’s blog entry has a link to the criminal complaint, which I haven’t read yet, but he summarizes.

I am having difficulty picturing the reaction in the Harvard administrative offices to the news that the chair of their chemistry department was being hauled off by the FBI.

(Subject line hattip: supposedly said by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. to someone who introduced himself as a Harvard professor, referring to the Parkman-Webster murder case.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 29th, 2020 at 3:37 pm and is filed under FBI, Geek, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.