Feds: Top Ohio State Immunologist Lied About Chinese Funding and Ties to Research Groups
Federal prosecutors allege that a top immunologist at Ohio State University illegally concealed Chinese funding for his research and attempted to flee the country before his arrest in Alaska in May.
In a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, the Justice Department accuses Song Guo Zheng, the Ronald L. Whisler MD Chair in Rheumatology and Immunology at Ohio State’s medical school, of fraudulently obtaining federal grant funds from the National Institutes of Health and making false statements to investigators.
Zheng, prosecutors say, obtained nearly $5 million in federal research grants without disclosing ties to Chinese entities and additional grant funds provided by them. The complaint and other filings in a federal court in Ohio indicate that Zheng has long been affiliated with Chinese research efforts called “Talent Plans” that U.S. officials have alleged are integral to Chinese government efforts to boost scientific and technological advancement in the country by having experts train and conduct research in the United States and elsewhere.