On January 20, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its decision to drop its case against Gang Chen, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering who was criminally charged last year for failing to disclose information about his ongoing affiliations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with whom he had applied for and obtained a substantial grant to fund a portion of his research at MIT. Yesterday, newly-appointed United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachael Rollins dismissed the criminal complaint charging Chen with two counts of wire fraud and one count each of failure to file a foreign bank account report and making a false statement to the government.

Chen, a naturalized U.S. Citizen born in China, was charged in January 2021 with receiving $29 million in undisclosed foreign funding and holding various appointments with the PRC while working at MIT where his research was supported by over $19 million in grants from various federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the DOE. Chen’s case was just one of many brought over the past two years against academic scientists under the Government’s China Initiative as part of the Department of Justice’s campaign to address perceived threats of foreign influence in U.S. based research.

Chen’s case garnered national attention when over one hundred MIT faculty members signed an open letter to MIT President Dr. L. Rafael Reif supporting Chen and expressing deep concerns over the chilling effect the charges had on intellectual freedom and scientific advancement.

According to a brief statement from U.S. Attorney Rollins, the dismissal is in part due to additional information the Government received “pertaining to the materiality of Professor Chen’s alleged omissions in the context of the grant review process at issue in this case.” As a result, the Government filed a brief one page Dismissal, stating that due to this information, “the government can no longer meet its burden of proof at trial.”

Dismissal of charges against Chen come in the wake of several dismissals by the DOJ and unsuccessful attempts to prosecute U.S. academics under the China Initiative over the past twelve months. In a statement released by his lawyer Chen stated: “While I am relieved that my ordeal is over, I am mindful that this terribly misguided China Initiative continues to bring unwarranted fear to the academic community and other scientists still face charges.”

While prosecutors have dropped charges against Chen and others, the DOJ continues to actively target researchers who have received payments from non-U.S.-based sources (i.e. foreign funding) or participated in programs run by foreign governments. Those in the research arena, particularly those with foreign funding of any kind, should be acutely aware of the compliance and disclosure requirements and strive to ensure full transparency with federal funding agencies to avoid being the next target.

We encourage both individuals and institutions to seek counsel well before a potential issue arises. This will assist in mitigating the potential risks and help define the compliance steps that should be undertaken.