US professor accused of hiding ties to China university stands trial

Hu Anming was an associate professor in the University of Tennessee’s department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering in February 2020 when he was charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements.

After the indictment was announced, the university said Hu had been suspended and that school officials had cooperated with authorities.

Hu has pleaded not guilty. In a court filing, his lawyer, Philip Lomonaco, said the Department of Justice “wanted a feather in its cap with an economic espionage case, so they ignored the facts and the law, destroyed the career of a professor with three PhDs in nanotechnology, and now expects the court to follow their narrative”.

The charges are part of a broader Justice Department crackdown against university researchers who conceal their ties to Chinese institutions, with a Harvard chemistry professor arrested in the past on similar charges. Federal officials have also asserted that Beijing is intent on stealing intellectual property from colleges and universities in the US, and have actively been warning schools to be on alert against espionage attempts.

Prosecutors say Hu defrauded Nasa by failing to disclose that he was also a professor at the Beijing University of Technology in China. Under federal law, Nasa cannot fund or give grant money to Chinese-owned companies or universities.