US drops charges against Gang Chen, MIT professor accused of lying about China ties
- Department of Justice admits that it cannot prove its case, brought as part of its initiative to stop scientists from sharing sensitive technology with China
- Chen expresses relief that the ordeal is over and thanks those who supported him during a ‘terrible year’
In a blow to the US Justice Department’s China Initiative policy, prosecutors on Thursday dropped all charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of misrepresenting his relationship to China on funding documents.
Gang Chen, a Chinese-born mechanical engineer and nanotechnology expert at MIT, was arrested a year ago for allegedly failing to disclose links to the Chinese government. The indictment also accused his research group of receiving US$19 million from Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen.
Chen, who is a naturalised US citizen, had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
“After a careful assessment of this new information in the context of all the evidence, our office has concluded that we can no longer meet our burden of proof at trial,” the Justice Department said in a statement, citing “additional information” that came to light.
In a statement, Chen expressed relief that the ordeal was over and thanked supporters in this “terrible year”, while his lawyers welcomed the news.
