KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A University of Tennessee professor charged with hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving research grants from the federal government is innocent of the federal charges, his attorney said during a trial in Knoxville.
Anming Hu’s defense attorney, Philip Lomonaco, said Monday that the professor was targeted in an effort to satisfy the U.S. Justice Department’s crackdown against university researchers accused of concealing their ties to Chinese institutions and to scare off American universities from employing foreign-born researchers and professors, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
But federal prosecutor Matthew J. McKenzie said the case was about Hu’s concealment and lies about working for a Beijing university while he also was employed at the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus in Knoxville, the newspaper reported.
Both attorneys made opening statements in Hu’s jury trial, which began Monday. An associate professor in the department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering at UT, Hu was charged in February 2020 with wire fraud and making false statements.
After the indictment was announced, the university said Hu had been suspended and school officials had cooperated with authorities.