US arrests Chinese-born researcher Qing Wang over ties to Thousand Talents Plan
- Ex-Cleveland Clinic employee faces fraud charges related to US$3.6 million in federal grants, FBI says
- Prosecutors say Wang accepted funding without revealing he was dean at Chinese university
A Chinese-born former employee of the Cleveland Clinic was arrested on fraud charges related to US$3.6 million in federal grants, the FBI said on Thursday, the latest move in a US crackdown on alleged attempts by China to steal American scientific advances.
The FBI and other federal enforcement agencies searched the Shaker Heights, Ohio, home of Dr Qing Wang, and arrested him on charges of false claims and wire fraud on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Wang accepted grants from the National Institutes of Health without disclosing that he was serving at same time as dean of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. That was a violation of the terms of the grants, they said.
They said Wang is a Chinese-born US citizen specialising in genetics and cardiovascular disease who has been affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic since 1997.
“Dr Wang deliberately failed to disclose his Chinese grants and foreign positions and even engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud to avoid criminal culpability,” said Eric Smith, head of the FBI’s Cleveland office.
