Investigators: Man provided U.S.-funded research to China
A criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Columbus Thursday included felony counts of fraud or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and making false statements for alleged crimes dating back about seven years.
A Hilliard man, described by his Ohio State University colleagues as a world-renowned medical researcher, is facing federal charges in what investigators are calling a “sophisticated medical grant fraud scheme” involving the transfer of U.S. research to China.
Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested in late May in Alaska, where he had taken a charter flight with plans to fly to China with “three large bags packed for a long, if not permanent, journey,” including two laptop computers, several USB drives and silver bars, according to court documents.
A criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Columbus Thursday included felony counts of fraud or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and making false statements for alleged crimes dating back about seven years.
“We allege that Zheng was preparing to flee the country after he learned that his employer had begun an administrative process into whether or not he was complying with rules governing taxpayer-funded grants,” U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers said in a released statement.
Zheng worked at the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University prior to his hire at OSU in early 2019. He was mentioned in a 2019 update report from the division of rheumatology and immunology at
OSU’s Wexner Medical Center, which described him as “a nationally and internationally renowned researcher” with a “pioneering career and enthusiasm.”
According to documents, Zheng and his research groups secured more than $4.3 million in National Institutes of Health grants for projects while receiving overlapping funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Zheng failed to disclose his foreign affiliations, however, as part of the grants and did not inform OSU of his employment at a university in China.
According to documents, Zheng was confronted by OSU about his failure to disclose outside research support and other affiliations. He left town about a week later and secured a seat on a charter plain in an attempt to travel to China.