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US chemical engineer avoids prison after conviction for hiding ties to China

Federal judge hands down light sentence in latest rebuke of the US government’s China Initiative.
By
  1. Neil Savage

A federal judge has sentenced US chemical engineer Feng ‘Franklin’ Tao to time served in a case stemming from the US government’s controversial China Initiative, which sought to protect US laboratories and businesses from economic espionage. Tao, who worked as a researcher at the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence at the time he was arrested, was convicted of failing to disclose ties to China on a university form.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00122-0

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 23 January 2023: An earlier version of this story said that the US Department of Justice charged Feng Tao with failing to disclose his ties to China while receiving research funding from the US Department of Defense. He was receiving funding from the Department of Energy.

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