A federal court has reportedly unsealed a shocking set of indictments implicating Charles Lieber, the head of Harvard University's chemistry department, as well as two Chinese nationals, for smuggling "biological material" into China and later lying about it.
One of the Chinese nationals was a researcher at Boston University and a former lieutenant in the communist People's Liberation Army, and the other was a so-called cancer researcher who is said to have attempted to smuggle 21 vials of biological materials into China using his sock.
While the official charge against Lieber, who may or may not still be in custody, is that he lied to investigators about these and other illicit acts, the circumstances surrounding his arrest suggest that he engaged in blatant espionage, and was promised what Zero Hedge describes as "an extremely seductive monetary reward" in return.
Lieber was reportedly paid $50,000 per month by the Wuhan University of Technology – Wuhan being where the current coronavirus global health emergency began – to participate in its so-called "Thousand Talents Program." He was also paid more than $1.5 million to create a laboratory and conduct "research" at the school.
Prosecutors say that Lieber deliberately lied to Department of Defense (D.O.D.) officials in 2018 about his involvement in these "foreign research collaborations," falsely claiming that he was never asked to participate in the Thousand Talents Program – even though it had already been shown that Lieber signed a talent contract with Wuhan University back in 2012.
Harvard itself also lied to the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) when questioned about Lieber's affiliation with Wuhan University that same year. The Ivy League school reportedly told the N.I.H. that Lieber had no formal affiliation with Wuhan University after 2012 and never participated in the Thousand Talents Program, even though it's been proven that Lieber did, in fact, have a formal relationship with Wuhan University through 2017.
As it turns out, Lieber was a "strategic scientist" at Wuhan University for "significant periods" between 2012 and 2017, for which he was paid not just $50,000 per month as a salary, but also $150,000 for "living expenses" on top of that. The Chinese government also paid Lieber millions to help it create what now appears to have been some kind of bioweapons research lab.
"The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious," a Harvard spokesman is quoted as saying. "Harvard is cooperating with federal authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, and is initiating its own review of the alleged misconduct. Professor Lieber has been placed on indefinite administrative leave."
Trump administration credited with cracking down on Chinese academic and corporate espionage
Cracking down on Chinese academic and corporate espionage has been a top priority for the Trump administration, which has made numerous other arrests, in addition to these, of Chinese nationals working in critical roles here in America and funneling sensitive information back to the motherland.
This case, however, is among the most high-profile to date, especially since it involves not just Chinese nationals but an American professor working at one of the world's most well-known and "prestigious" universities.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus epidemic has now officially been declared as a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).
"Interestingly enough, not long after news of the arrests hit the press, another report surfaced claiming China had rejected President Trump's offer of assistance to contain the coronavirus – even as Wuhan is in desperate need of supplies," reports Zero Hedge about this interesting turn of events.
"Is that just a coincidence?"
For more late-breaking news about coronavirus, China, and the chaos that's being systematically unleashed all in tandem, be sure to check Pandemic.news.
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