Thread by @antonioregalado

MIT mechanical engineer prof Gang Chan arrested. DOJ accuses of undisclosed grants, $$, from China

boston.cbslocal.com/2021/01/14/gan…

COMPLAINT "Since in or about 2013, CHEN’s research at MIT has been funded by more than $19 million in grants awarded by .. U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”), the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) and the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (“DARPA”).

"investigating CHEN for several violations of
federal law, including wire fraud due to his failure to disclose contracts, appointments, and awards
from various entities in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) in connection with his receipt of
federal grant funding from DOE"

"Since in or about 2012, CHEN has held various PRC contractual appointments
designed to promote the PRC’s technological and scientific development, including acting as an
“overseas expert” for the PRC government at the request of the PRC Consulate Office in New
York "

... "CHEN assessed and reviewed grant
applications, helped determine which grants the PRC government would fund, and reviewed the
results of PRC funded research. Yet, CHEN never disclosed his work for NNSFC when he applied
for grants from DOE or even his employer, MIT. "....

Chen was born in China, but is naturalized US citizen.

Split loyalties story, here, it seems

paperwork problems ... "CHEN electronically submitted and caused to be submitted grant applications and other documents to DOE that failed to disclose his substantial affiliations, appointments and contractual obligations with the PRC and its government. "

investigators got access to "CHEN's emails, CHEN’s electronic devices, MIT documents, and publicly available information" and based on these believe "CHEN entered into numerous contracts with PRC government agencies ... undisclosed appointments in the PRC since
at least 2012"

Under the DOJ China initiative, they are cracking down on people double dipping, getting paid both in china and the US, sometimes for the same stuff

getting people on technicalities
"CHEN’s electronic devices demonstrat[e] he had at least three accounts at the Bank of China in 2018 ... one ... had a balance greater than $10,000. Therefore, CHEN was required to file an FBAR/FinCEN Form 114 disclosing this account to the IRS"

CHEN is currently the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, where he has been employed as a full
professor since 2004.

CHEN also serves as the Director of the MIT Pappalardo Micro/Nano Engineering
Laboratory, and the Director of the Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center
(“S3TEC”) at MIT.

Previously, DOJ went after and arrested Harvard Chemistry department chair Charles Lieber, who also works in material science/nanotech.

Lieber also arrested for missing disclosures (and lying about same) .
technologyreview.com/2020/01/28/276…

so people being charged for concealing income and affiliations....but this is really about something not explicitly charged: giving technology to China.

as complaint says: "e-mails, WeChat messages, and documents found on CHEN’s electronic devices" show "appointments from various PRC government officials and entities, many of which are expressly intended to further the PRC’s scientific and technological goals."

Chen sent emails from his MIT account "to promote the PRC's scientific and economic development"

Don't think that is a crime. Must be here for color. From the complaint, one of those emails.

Here's an interesting bit.
Chen detained by customs in Jan 20 on return from China.

Asked what he's doing in China. Says "collaboration." What kind? "A collaboration is a collaboration."

Name drops MIT. Director position.

No dice, all devices seized.

Chen's laptop was encrypted. He was not willing to give the password over. Apparently border protection kept it for two months. Eventually they got a search warrant. Not clear if they ever got in.

Allegedly, Chen did not correctly fill out MIT's annual "Outside Professional Activities" form.

As an MIT employee, I also have to fill out this same exact form every year

Chen allegedly failed to mention his foreign $$ and appointments.

Apparently, MIT prof also forgot to tell Department of Energy (DOE) in his grant updates about his China entanglements.

BUT....he in some cases literally mentioned both the DOE and the China support in his papers. As well as co-authoring them with Chinese pals and thanking DOE for support.

Nowhere in the complaint filed by DOJ is there any suggestion that any of Chen's research is secret, vital to national security, or even important research at all.

In other words. Collaboration or technology espionage?

The strong sense from this charging document is that collaborating with China *is* espionage, in the view of DOJ.

MIT President Rafael Reif statement on arrest of professor Gang Chen for grant fraud.

- Chen is 'scholar, teacher'

- charges 'hard to understand'

- offering 'support' to Chen family

Statement does not mention People's Republic of China

In my first tweet in this thread I misspelled Gang Chen as Gang Chan. Let it stand corrected.

PS-- here is the tweet thread from the FBI that announced this arrest.

https://twitter.com/FBIBoston/status/1349747442770702336

I think its more about dual allegiances -- sometimes raised also as regards Israeli -- than racism per se.

https://twitter.com/ulywang/status/1349950220612714497