Livermore Lab Scientist Gets 18 Months for Submitting False Data

A former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory research scientist has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for turning in false data and reports to the federal government to receive funding over a four-year period for a quantum computing program, prosecutors said. S. Darin Kinion, 44, of Lafayette, pleaded guilty in June to submitting false data and reports to the Intelligence Advanced Research

Projects Activity, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In his plea agreement, Kinion admitted that he received millions of dollars from IARPA between 2008 and 2012 to design, build, and test experimental components in the field of quantum computing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, prosecutors said.

Instead of building and testing the experimental components, authorities said Kinion presented false and fraudulent data and information to the government in an attempt to defraud the IARPA into believing he did
the work.

He would have had to set up and operate certain equipment to build and test the experimental components, but he never set up nor operated the equipment, prosecutors said. Kinion asked for funds from the IARPA to buy equipment and claimed he used it to build and test experimental components and submitted false
reports and fraudulent information to support his claims and justify continued funding to support his research, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release that Kinion took "deliberate additional steps to conceal and to prevent IARPA from discovering his fraudulent scheme," including mailing components to IARPA's validation team that he claimed were functioning even though he knew they were not.

Kinion also altered and backdated FedEx mailing labels and claimed he mailed items at an earlier date than he actually mailed them, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In addition, he conducted what prosecutors described as "a three-day charade" experiment to convince another scientist that his test was legitimate.

Kinion, who was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White on Tuesday, will begin serving his 18-month sentence on Jan. 26. White also ordered Kinion to pay $3.3 million in restitution to
the U.S. government and serve three years of supervised release after he finishes serving his prison sentence.

By Bay City News

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