A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a researcher accused of concealing his work in China while employed at the University of Kansas. Feng “Franklin” Tao was initially convicted of wire fraud and making a false statement, but the wire fraud convictions were later dismissed by a U.S. District Judge, leaving only the false statement conviction. Tao was sentenced to time served by the judge.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Kansas City, Missouri, ruled that the government did not present enough evidence to prove that Tao's failure to disclose his potential conflict of interest was significant. As a result, the appeals court directed the lower court to acquit him of the remaining count.
The case was part of the Trump administration's China Initiative, aimed at preventing the transfer of intellectual property from U.S. universities to the Chinese government. The initiative was criticized publicly, and several prosecutions under it failed. Tao, a tenured professor at the University of Kansas, was accused of not disclosing his activities in China, where he was setting up a laboratory and recruiting staff for Fuzhou University.
Federal prosecutors argued that Tao's actions defrauded the University of Kansas, as well as the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, which had granted him research funds. However, the appeals court found that there was insufficient evidence to show that Tao's failure to disclose affected decisions by the funding agencies.
Tao's attorneys contended that the case was an example of prosecutorial overreach, attempting to turn a university HR matter into a federal offense. The majority of the appeals court agreed, stating that Tao's nondisclosure did not materially impact the agencies' decisions on his research grants.
While one judge dissented, arguing that Tao's failure to disclose his commitments to Fuzhou University was indeed material to the funding agencies, the majority decision ultimately led to Tao's acquittal of the false statement charge.
