US professor Anming Hu charged with hiding China ties from Nasa
- Tennessee academic Hu was arrested on Thursday and charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements
- The Justice Department said Hu hid his link to the Beijing university while taking funding from the US space agency
US authorities on Thursday charged a professor at a university in Tennessee with fraud and false statements, saying he hid his link to a Chinese institution while taking funding from Nasa.
In the latest case related to US efforts to halt alleged unauthorised technology transfers to China, the Justice Department said Anming Hu hid his ties to Beijing University of Technology while he taught and did research at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The indictment said that from 2016, Hu “engaged in a scheme to defraud the National Aeronautics and Space Administration” (Nasa) by hiding his affiliation with the Beijing university.
“Federal law prohibits Nasa from using appropriated funds on projects in collaboration with China or Chinese universities,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Hu was arrested on Thursday and charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements.
The wire fraud charges bring up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to US$250,000 each; the false statement counts each bring a maximum five years in prison.