Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters). A Harvard University law professor was accused by a lawyer of hiding his ties to a China recruitment program. The U.S. prosecutors were accused on Wednesday of “inventing a thing out of nothing”, as the trial, closely monitored, began.

The defense and prosecution gave opening statements in Charles Lieber’s trial. He was a Harvard chemistry professor and a former chairman of Harvard’s chemistry department. Six criminal charges were brought against Lieber.

Lieber (62 years old) stood briefly before the jury at federal court in Boston. Marc Mukasey, defense attorney, said that investigators had “mangled” and “made up” evidence in an attempt to prove the defendant had lied to authorities.

Mukasey stated to jurors that if there were a Nobel Prize in Invention, then the government would be awarded it.

James Drabick, assistant U.S.A. attorney stated that Lieber had participated in China’s Thousand Talents Program. This program, prosecutors claim, is used by China to encourage foreign researchers to share their expertise with the country.

This trial will test the U.S. Justice Department’s China Initiative, which was launched in 2018 as a means to fight economic espionage from China and theft of trade secrets. Critics claim that the initiative hinders academic research, and discriminates against Chinese researchers.

Drabick stated Lieber was a participant in the Thousand Talents Program. He affiliated from 2011 to 2015, Wuhan University of Technology in China. This paid Lieber tens of thousand of dollars with hopes of improving its reputation.

Lieber denied involvement to U.S. Defense Department inquiries and U.S. National Institutes of Health questions. The U.S. had granted Lieber $15 million in research grants and had concealed his income from a Chinese bank account. Drabick stated.

Drabick stated that Lieber’s email evidence proves he took part in the program. He also said after 2020’s arrest that he confessed to an FBI interview that he didn’t agree and had accepted money.

Drabick explained that Drabick would explain why he made the mistake when he is younger and more stupid.

Mukasey, the defense lawyer said investigators did not record exactly what Lieber had told them before his arrest. He also stated that he tried to answer truthfully in “confused” interrogation by FBI agents after his arrest.