The guy downright lied about a huge financial incentive. There's no excuse or valid "America bad" angle to spin this.
> It says the deal called for Lieber to be paid up to $50,000 a month, in addition to $150,000 per year "for living and personal expenses."
"Lieber was also awarded more than $1.5 million by WUT and the Chinese government to establish a research lab and conduct research at WUT," the document states.
For a large part of the time frame in question, Lieber was also the principal investigator on at least six U.S. Defense Department research grants, with a cumulative value of more than $8 million, according to the affidavit. It also says he was the principal investigator on more than $10 million in grants funded by the National Institutes of Health.
"These grants require the disclosure of significant foreign financial conflicts of interest, including financial support from foreign governments or foreign entities," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said in a statement announcing the charges against Lieber.
In interviews with Defense Department investigators in 2018 and 2019, Lieber said that while he had heard of the Thousand Talents Plan, he had never been asked to be part of it, according to the affidavit. Lieber's email correspondence suggests he signed a three-year agreement and employment contract with WUT in 2012.
"Lieber was obligated to work for WUT 'not less than nine months a year' by 'declaring international cooperation projects, cultivating young teachers and Ph.D. students, organizing international conference[s], applying for patents and publishing articles in the name of' WUT," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
For people not US citizens or who have never dealt with the federal government it may be confusing. When the US federal government asks you a question about money and you lie, you are literally putting everything (career, freedom, family, life) in serious jeopardy. "Jeopardy" may not be the right word, it's basically just a matter of time before your conclusion is reached.
Again, as I said, not being clear about everything to your funding sources is definitely bad. But the specific outrage doesn't make sense. What does it mean to have a "conflict of interest" and a "financial incentive" when you're doing basic science? Science isn't like working for a corporation or the military. The end goal is to publish your results for the entire world to see.
The funders are paying for work that isn't being done.
Grants usually specific the "percent effort" of key personnel. This not only determines the budget, but also factors into funding decisions. A proposal might be rejected as 'infeasible' if the PI isn't going to spend much time training the students or managing the work.
These numbers usually aren't exact--people certainly spend 19 (or fewer) hours per week on things that are nominally 50% effort--but having giant off-the-books projects, like running a whole separate lab--make them completely fictional.
“What is a conflict of interest” is like one of the things that is taught (or should be taught) to everyone going into a research career. I know where I worked there where posters explaining it.
However most people I’ve dealt with just use the easy route and disclose all sources of funding.
> It says the deal called for Lieber to be paid up to $50,000 a month, in addition to $150,000 per year "for living and personal expenses."
"Lieber was also awarded more than $1.5 million by WUT and the Chinese government to establish a research lab and conduct research at WUT," the document states.
For a large part of the time frame in question, Lieber was also the principal investigator on at least six U.S. Defense Department research grants, with a cumulative value of more than $8 million, according to the affidavit. It also says he was the principal investigator on more than $10 million in grants funded by the National Institutes of Health.
"These grants require the disclosure of significant foreign financial conflicts of interest, including financial support from foreign governments or foreign entities," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said in a statement announcing the charges against Lieber.
In interviews with Defense Department investigators in 2018 and 2019, Lieber said that while he had heard of the Thousand Talents Plan, he had never been asked to be part of it, according to the affidavit. Lieber's email correspondence suggests he signed a three-year agreement and employment contract with WUT in 2012.
"Lieber was obligated to work for WUT 'not less than nine months a year' by 'declaring international cooperation projects, cultivating young teachers and Ph.D. students, organizing international conference[s], applying for patents and publishing articles in the name of' WUT," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.