Harvard Professor, Lexington Resident Charged With Tax Offenses

LEXINGTON, MA — Charles Lieber, 61, was charged in a superseding indictment with tax offenses for failing to report income he received from Wuhan University of Technology in Wuhan, China. Lieber was the main investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University and became a "strategic scientist" at Wuhan University of Technology, without notifying Harvard.

Lieber was charged with two counts of making and subscribing a false income tax return and two counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts with the Internal Revenue Service. Lieber was originally arrested on Jan. 28, and then indicted on two counts of making false statements to federal authorities.

He was previously indicted — and pleaded not guilty—on charges of making false statements to federal authorities regarding a Chinese-run recruitment, but this supersedes those charges, according to the U.S District Attorney's office.

Lieber was a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from at least 2012 through 2015, according to the U.S. District Attorney's office. China’s Thousand Talents Plan is one of the most prominent Chinese talent recruitment plans designed to attract, recruit and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security.

Under the terms of Lieber’s three-year Thousand Talents contract, WUT allegedly paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $150,000 and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at WUT. It is alleged that in 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with WUT.

According to the superseding indictment, in tax years 2013 and 2014, Lieber earned income from WUT that he did not tell the IRS about. The superseding indictment also alleges that Lieber, together with WUT officials, opened a bank account at a Chinese bank during a trip to Wuhan in 2012. Thereafter, between at least 2013 and 2015, WUT periodically deposited portions of Lieber’s salary into that account. U.S. taxpayers are required to report the existence of any foreign bank account that holds more than $10,000 at any time during a given year by the filing an FBAR with the IRS. Lieber allegedly failed to file FBARs for the years 2014 and 2015.

If convicted, Lieber faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for the charge of making false statements, alone.