FBI Charges Chinese Scientist With Fraud for Hiding Ties to 'Thousand Talents' Program

FBI Charges Chinese Scientist With Fraud for Hiding Ties to "Thousand Talents" Program

According to a criminal complaint, a Chinese scientist has been charged with wire fraud for failing to disclose his involvement in Chinese talent programs, including the "Thousand Talents" program, while seeking funding from NASA. The FBI alleges the scientist, identified as Ang, concealed his ties to Chinese entities to secure a contract worth over $500,000.

"While mere participation in a talent plan is not illegal," said John Brown, senior FBI national security executive, in congressional testimony last year, "investigations by the FBI and our partner agencies have revealed that participants are often incentivized to transfer to China the research they conduct in the United States, as well as other proprietary information to which they can gain access, and remain a significant threat to the United States."

According to the complaint, Ang did disclose his participation in one Thousand Talents Scholar program to the university in 2014, but failed to report his involvement in other programs between 2012 and 2018. While the FBI’s reference to the Thousand Talents Scholar program pertains to an area typically worked by the agency’s counterintelligence investigators, the federal charge spelled out in the criminal complaint against Ang relates to wire fraud rather than espionage.

In particular, authorities allege Ang committed fraud in 2016 by facilitating the submission of a proposal to NASA for a contract worth more than half a million dollars, without disclosing potential conflicts of interest associated with his hidden involvement with Chinese entities. His proposal was ultimately selected by NASA.

If convicted, federal officials say, Ang faces a statutory maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.