HARVARD PROFESSOR AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPON ARE RELATED TO CORONAVIRUS?

             
               The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 that the chair of Harvard University's Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department  Doctor Charles Lieber with two Chinese nationals have been charged with making false statements about his involvement and connection with aiding the People's Republic of China program to recruit foreign researchers and tried to help the Chinese government. “It appears China paid Lieber hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for his involvement with the Chinese entities and for his work on research for Chinese gain” said U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling.
Dr Charles Lieber, 60 years old, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a materially false fictitious and fraudulent statement, Dr Charles appeared the same day before Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. According to court documents, since 2008, Dr Charles who has served  as the Principal Investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, which specialized in the area of nanoscience has received more than 15 $ million in grant funding from the National Institute of Health NIH and Department of Defense DOD. These grants require the disclosure of significant foreign financial conflicts of interest, including financial support from foreign governments or foreign entities. Unbeknownst to Harvard University beginning in 2011, Dr Lieber became a Strategic Scientist at Wuhan University of Technology WUT in China and was a contractual participant in China's Thousand Talents Plan from in or about 2012 to 2017. China's Thousand Talents Plan is one of most prominent Chinese Talents recruit plans that are designed to attract, recruit and cultivate high level scientific talent in furtherance of China's scientific development, economic prosperity and national security. These talent programs seek to lure Chinese overseas talent and foreign experts to bring their knowledge and experience to China and reward individuals for stealing proprietary information. Under the terms of Lieber's three year Thousand Talents contract, the Wuhan University of Technology paid him 50,000 $ per month, living expenses of up to 1 million Chinese Yuan, approximately 158,000 $ at the time, and awarded him more than 1.5 $ million to establish a research lab at WUT. In return, Dr Charles Lieber was obligated to work for the WUT not less than nine months a year by declaring international cooperation projects, cultivating young teachers and Philosophy Doctor Students, organizing international conferences applying for patents and publishing articles in the name of the Wuhan University of Technology. The complaint alleges that in 2018 and 2019, Dr Lieber lied about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and affiliation with the WUT, on or about April 24, 2018 during an interview with investigators, Dr Lieber stated that he was never asked to participate in the Thousand Talents Program nut he wasn't sure how China categorized him. In November 2018, NIH inquired of Harvard whether Dr Lieber had failed to disclose his then suspected relationship with The WUT and China's Thousand Talents Plan, Dr Lieber caused Harvard to falsely tell NIH that Dr Lieber had no formal association with the WUT  after 2012, that the WUT continued to falsely exaggerate his involvement with WUT in subsequent years and that Dr Lieber is not and has never been a participant in China's Thousand Talents Plan.
Yanqing Ye, 29 years old, a Chinese national, was charged in an indictment with one count each of visa fraud, making false statements, acting as an agent of foreign government and conspiracy, Ye is currently in China, according to the indictment, Ye is a Lieutenant of the People's Liberation Army PLA, the armed forces of the People's Republic of China and member of the Chinese Communist Party CCP. On her J-1 Visa application, Ye falsely identified herself as a student and lied about her ongoing military service at the National University of Defense Technology NUDT, a top military academy directed by the CCP, it's further alleged that while studying at Boston University's BU Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering from October 2017 to April 2019, Ye continued to work as PLA Lieutenant completing numerous assignments from PLA officers such as conducting research, assessing U S military websites and sending U S documents and information to China. According to court documents, on April 20, 2019, federal officers interviewed Ye at Boston's Logan International Airport, during the interview, it is alleged that Ye falsely claimed that she had minimal contract with two NUDT professors who were high ranking PLA officers, however, a search of Ye's electronic devices demonstrated that at the direction of one NUDT professor, who was a PLA Colonel, Ye had accessed U S military websites, researched U S military projects and compiled information for the PLA on two U S scientists with expertise in robotics and computer science, furthermore, a review of a WeChat conversation revealed that Ye and the Other PLA official from NUDT were collaborating on a research paper about a risk assessment model designed to decipher data for military applications. During the interview, Ye admitted that she held the rank of Lieutenant in the PLA and admitted she was a member of the CCP.
Zaosong Zheng, 30 years old, a Chinese national, was arrested on December 10, 2019, at Boston's Logan International Airport and charged by criminal complaint with attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research to China, on January 21, 2020, Zheng was indicted on one count of smuggling goods from the United States and one count of making false fictitious or fraudulent statements, he has been detained since December 30,2019. In August 2018, Zheng entered the United States on a J-1 Visa and conducted cancer-cell research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center in Boston from September 4, 2018, to December 9, 2019. It is alleged that on December 9, 2019, Zheng stole 21 vials of biological research and attempted to smuggle them out of the United States aboard a flight destined for China, federal officers at Logan Airport discovered the vials hidden in a sock inside one of Zheng's bags and not properly packaged, it is alleged that initially, Zheng lied to officers about the contents of his luggage but later admitted he had stolen the vials from a lab at Beth Israel, Zheng stated that he intended to bring the vials to China to use them to conduct research in his own laboratory and publish the results under his own name.
The charge of making false fictitious and fraudulent statements provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of 250,000 $. The charge of visa fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of 250,000 $. The charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of 250,000$. The charge of conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of 250,000$. The charge of smuggling goods from the United States provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of 250,000$. Sentences are imported by a federal district court judge based upon the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Michael Denning Director of Field Operations, U S Customs and Border Protection, Boston Field Office, Leigh Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, Philip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge of the U S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General and William Higgins, Special Agent in Charge of the U S Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office made the announcement, assistant U S Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann, Jason Casey and Benjamin Tolkoff of Lelling’s National Security Unit are prosecuting these cases with the assistance of trial attorneys William Mackie and David Aaron at the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
These case are part of the Department of Justice’s China Initiative, which reflects the strategic priority of countering Chinese national security threats and reinforces the President’s overall national security strategy, in addition to identifying and prosecuting those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking and economic espionage, the initiative will increase efforts to protect our critical infrastructure against external threats including foreign direct investment, supply chain threats and the foreign agents seeking to influence the American public and policymakers without proper registration.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Lieber was arrested at his Harvard University office and then placed on administrative leave. He will not be able to participate in his teaching or research roles, the university said. A Harvard spokesman issued a statement on Lieber’s arrest: The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious. 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. The second indictment is a Chinese national who was working as a researcher at Boston University. Lelling said Yanqing Ye is a lieutenant of the Chinese military, but failed to disclose that while applying for a U.S. visa. Ye is currently in China and has not been arrested “A border search of her electronic devices showed that Ye had complied information for the People’s Liberation Army about two U.S. residents with expertise in robotics and computer science,” said Lelling. Boston University said Ye left the school in April 2019 and they are fully cooperating with the investigation.
The third indictment is Chinese national Zaosong Zheng who was sponsored by Harvard and working as a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was allegedly caught at Logan Airport in December trying to smuggle biological material out of the country.
Beth Israel Deaconess released a statement of its own: We are deeply proud of the breadth and depth of our research programs. Any efforts to compromise research undermine the hard work of our faculty and staff to advance patient care. We are grateful for the diligence and professionalism of federal law enforcement in this case and are fully cooperating with the government’s ongoing investigation of this matter. “Boston is an especially attractive target for this kind of exploitation. Universities, research institutions and tech companies in this area must become sensitized to this type of threat,” said Lelling. “This is not an accident or coincidence. This is a small sample of China’s ongoing campaign to siphon off American technology and know how for Chinese gain”