News of the World

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US Jury Convicts University of Kansas Professor for Hiding China Ties

A federal jury on Thursday found a former University of Kansas professor guilty of hiding his employment with a Chinese state-run university while conducting research funded by the U.S. government.

Feng “Franklin” Tao, 50, was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements out of the eight counts brought against him, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

The court did not set a sentencing date.
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According to the indictment, Tao accepted a full-time “Changjiang scholar distinguished professor” position at Fuzhou University in 2018 without informing the University of Kansas, where he was already employed.

Fuzhou University was established in 1958 by the provincial government, China’s Ministry of Education, and the State Administration for Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense, a ministry under China’s State Council.
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Tao also failed to disclose the agreement when filling out his annual reports with the University of Kansas, which requires him to disclose any outside employment that did or could impact duties as a conflict of interest.

The indictment states that Tao lied to the university administrators in December 2018 by claiming to be in Europe when he moved to China to work full-time at Fuzhou University.