Ex-Cleveland Clinic employee charged with hiding China ties to collect taxpayer-funded grants

Federal prosecutors Thursday charged a former Cleveland Clinic employee with fraud, saying he lied about his ties to a Chinese university while collecting more than $3.6 million in taxpayer-funded grants.

The charges against Qing Wang come as the Justice Department continues to crack down on Chinese efforts to pilfer American research and technology.

Dr. Wang is charged with false claims and wire fraud.

Dr. Wang, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen who specializes in genetics and cardiovascular research, has worked at the distinguished Cleveland Clinic since 1997.

Prosecutors said Dr. Wang accepted grants from the National Institutes of Health while concealing that he was the dean of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Dr. Wang also received funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for the same research the NIH was funding, prosecutors said.

The alleged misstatements led NIH to approve and fund grants Dr. Wang would not otherwise have been eligible to receive, according to the criminal complaint.

“Dr. Wang deliberately failed to disclose his Chinese grants and foreign positions and even engaged in a pervasive pattern of fraud to avoid criminal culpability,” said Eric Smith, head of the FBI’s Cleveland office.

Prosecutors also allege that Dr. Wang was a participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan, a controversial program that recruits overseas researchers to boost the country’s science and technology.

The Trump administration has long accused the Thousand Talents Plan of being a veiled effort to pilfer U.S. technology.

Dr. Wang’s participation in the Thousand Talents program resulted in China providing $3 million in research support to enhance his facilities at the Chinese university, prosecutors said. He also received free travel and lodging, including a three-bedroom apartment on campus for his personal use, because of his involvement in the Thousand Talents program, prosecutors said.

The Cleveland Clinic said that it had fired Dr. Wang after it was revealed he allegedly hid his ties to China.

“Cleveland Clinic has cooperated fully with the NIH and with federal law enforcement as they conducted their own investigations into these same subjects and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement.