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It was, the chief federal prosecutor in Manhattan said on Monday, “a case of inviting and paying for foxes in the henhouse.”
hree researchers at the New York University School of Medicine who specialized in magnetic resonance imaging technology had been working on research sponsored by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
But, prosecutors charged on Monday, the three had their eyes on other business as well. They conspired to take bribes from a Chinese medical imaging company and a Chinese-sponsored research institute to share nonpublic information about their N.Y.U. work, according to the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.
The defendants, all Chinese citizens, included Yudong Zhu, 44, of Scarsdale, N.Y., an associate professor in the school’s radiology department who was described by the authorities as “an accomplished researcher and innovator.” He was hired by the university around 2008 to teach and conduct research related to innovations in M.R.I. technology, the authorities said.
After the National Institutes of Health awarded the university millions of dollars over five years to pay for Professor Zhu’s research, he arranged for the two other defendants to move to New York from China to work with him, prosecutors said. He also arranged for them to receive financial support from an executive of the Chinese imaging company who was also affiliated with the government-sponsored institute, officials said.
The two other defendants are Xing Yang, 31, and Ye Li, also 31, both of Hartsdale, N.Y. They were each described by N.Y.U. as research engineers at the medical school.
The support they received included graduate school tuition for Mr. Yang, a rental apartment for Mr. Li and, for both, travel between China and New York, prosecutors said.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney, who announced the charges with George Venizelos, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office, said the defendants had “colluded with representatives from a Chinese government entity and a direct competitor of the university for which they worked to illegally acquire N.I.H.-funded research for the benefit of those entities.”
N.Y.U. said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed by the news of the alleged conduct by its employees.”
“Through our internal review processes,” it said, “we became aware of possible irregularities pursuant to research being conducted through a grant from the N.I.H. to develop new M.R.I. technologies.” The university said that it had alerted the authorities and continued to cooperate fully with the investigation.
Dr. Zhu and Mr. Yang were both arrested on Sunday and ordered released on bond by a magistrate judge on Monday. All three defendants were charged with one count of commercial bribery conspiracy; Dr. Zhu was also charged with one count of falsification of records. A prosecutor said in court that Dr. Zhu had admitted to the F.B.I. that he had received almost $500,000 in the scheme.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/n...ists-took-bribes-to-reveal-work-to-china.html
hree researchers at the New York University School of Medicine who specialized in magnetic resonance imaging technology had been working on research sponsored by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
But, prosecutors charged on Monday, the three had their eyes on other business as well. They conspired to take bribes from a Chinese medical imaging company and a Chinese-sponsored research institute to share nonpublic information about their N.Y.U. work, according to the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.
The defendants, all Chinese citizens, included Yudong Zhu, 44, of Scarsdale, N.Y., an associate professor in the school’s radiology department who was described by the authorities as “an accomplished researcher and innovator.” He was hired by the university around 2008 to teach and conduct research related to innovations in M.R.I. technology, the authorities said.
After the National Institutes of Health awarded the university millions of dollars over five years to pay for Professor Zhu’s research, he arranged for the two other defendants to move to New York from China to work with him, prosecutors said. He also arranged for them to receive financial support from an executive of the Chinese imaging company who was also affiliated with the government-sponsored institute, officials said.
The two other defendants are Xing Yang, 31, and Ye Li, also 31, both of Hartsdale, N.Y. They were each described by N.Y.U. as research engineers at the medical school.
The support they received included graduate school tuition for Mr. Yang, a rental apartment for Mr. Li and, for both, travel between China and New York, prosecutors said.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney, who announced the charges with George Venizelos, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office, said the defendants had “colluded with representatives from a Chinese government entity and a direct competitor of the university for which they worked to illegally acquire N.I.H.-funded research for the benefit of those entities.”
N.Y.U. said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed by the news of the alleged conduct by its employees.”
“Through our internal review processes,” it said, “we became aware of possible irregularities pursuant to research being conducted through a grant from the N.I.H. to develop new M.R.I. technologies.” The university said that it had alerted the authorities and continued to cooperate fully with the investigation.
Dr. Zhu and Mr. Yang were both arrested on Sunday and ordered released on bond by a magistrate judge on Monday. All three defendants were charged with one count of commercial bribery conspiracy; Dr. Zhu was also charged with one count of falsification of records. A prosecutor said in court that Dr. Zhu had admitted to the F.B.I. that he had received almost $500,000 in the scheme.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/n...ists-took-bribes-to-reveal-work-to-china.html
