National Roundup

Maryland
Contractor agrees to pay $1.3M to settle overbilling claim
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Virginia-based information technology contractor will pay the federal government almost $1.4 million to resolve allegations that it overbilled NASA for hours worked and labor rates in excess of the actual charges, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a news release that Telophase Corporation agreed to the payment to resolve federal False Claims Act allegations.

Telophase provides a variety of services, including information technology and cyber-security services. It was awarded a subcontract for services to be provided to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The specific contract reimburses the contractor for actual project costs, plus a fee.

According to the news release, between April 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2018, Telophase submitted false claims to NASA by billing the space agency for labor hours in excess of the hours that Telophase could show that its employees and contractors actually worked. It’s also alleged that the company charged labor rates higher than the rates actually paid to its employees and contractors.

Telophase was also accused of charging labor costs in excess of its actual recorded costs, and indirect rates that were higher than those actually incurred, the news release said.

Massachusetts
Harvard professor found guilty of hiding ties to China
BOSTON (AP) — A Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program  was found guilty on all counts Tuesday.

Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements, and two counts of failing to file reports for a foreign bank account in China.

The jury deliberated for about two hours and 45 minutes before announcing the verdict following five days of testimony in Boston federal court.

Lieber’s defense attorney Marc Mukasey had argued that prosecutors lacked proof of the charges. He maintained that investigators didn’t keep any record of their interviews with Lieber prior to his arrest.

He argued that prosecutors would be unable to prove that Lieber acted “knowingly, intentionally, or willfully, or that he made any material false statement.” Mukasey also stressed Lieber wasn’t charged with illegally transferring any technology or proprietary information to China.

Prosecutors argued that Lieber, who was arrested in January, knowingly hid his involvement in China’s Thousand Talents Plan — a program designed to recruit people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property to China — to protect his career and reputation.

Lieber denied his involvement during inquiries from U.S. authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, which had provided him with millions of dollars in research funding, prosecutors said.

Lieber also concealed his income from the Chinese program, including $50,000 a month from the Wuhan University of Technology, up to $158,000 in living expenses and more than $1.5 million in grants, according to prosecutors.
In exchange, they say, Lieber agreed to publish articles, organize international conferences and apply for patents on behalf of the Chinese university.

The case is among the highest profile to come from the U.S. Department of Justice’s so-called “China Initiative.”

The effort launched in 2018 to curb economic espionage from China has faced criticism that it harms academic research and amounts to racial profiling of Chinese researchers.

Hundreds of faculty members at Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Temple and other prominent colleges have signed onto letters to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on him to end the initiative.

The academics say the effort compromises the nation’s competitiveness in research and technology and has had a chilling effect on recruiting foreign scholars. The letters also complain the investigations have disproportionally targeted researchers of Chinese origin.

Lieber has been on paid administrative leave from Harvard since being arrested in January 2020.

Kentucky
Man accused of providing material support to IS
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group was charged in an indictment unsealed Monday with providing support to the group, federal prosecutors said.

Mirsad Hariz Adem Ramic, 31, of Bowling Green, was also charged with conspiring with others and receiving military type training from the group, prosecutors said.

Ramic, who was incarcerated in Turkey, was deported and arrived in the U.S. last week. He made his initial appearance in court Monday. It wasn’t clear whether Ramic was represented by a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

Court documents say Ramic and two co-conspirators departed the U.S. on June 3, 2014, for Turkey and crossed the Syrian border to join IS, according to a news release from the Justice Department.

Ramic faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted, along with a fine of up to $750,000.

Oregon
Deputy pleads guilty to vaccine card scam
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Multnomah County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty Tuesday to misusing vaccine cards, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.

Robert James Haney, 50, of Battle Ground, Washington, will serve six months probation, resign from the sheriff’s office, relinquish his Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training certification, and pay a $500 fine, a news release states.

He was indicted in September for stealing COVID-19 vaccination cards from the Multnomah County Jail, where he worked.

Investigators said he stole two blank cards during a vaccine clinic at the jail. He made a copy of a co-worker’s card and filled in the blank cards with the intention of giving them to family members, prosecutors said.

Co-workers reported that Haney stole the cards in May and detectives investigated, the Columbian reported. Officials searched Haney’s Battle Ground house and seized two COVID-19 vaccination cards from a kitchen cupboard, according to a property receipt.

“Allegations of misconduct are serious matters for public safety agencies,” Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said in the news release. “Our profession’s credibility is damaged when any member engages in illegal actions or misconduct.”