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When the Trump administration in 2018 unveiled a sweeping crackdown on economic espionage by the Chinese government, advocacy groups and academics raised concerns the effort could result in racial profiling and have a chilling effect on collaborations.
Then last week, federal prosecutors abruptly dropped charges against five Chinese researchers at U.S. universities accused of visa fraud, fueling fresh doubts about the China Initiative and bringing new calls for the Justice Department to end or revamp it.
The dismissals of the cases, which targeted scientists at such universities as UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Francisco and Stanford, represent an embarrassing setback in the federal government’s effort to combat Chinese economic espionage, which authorities say costs the U.S. economy at least $600 billion a year.
Feds abruptly drop visa fraud charges against Chinese military scientists
Prosecutors provided no explanation for the dismissals, but they reportedly came after evidence surfaced that a visa application question was not clear enough for Chinese military scientists to answer accurately.
In this Thursday, April 14, 2016 photo, a Chinese national flag flutters against the office buildings at the Shanghai Bund shrouded by pollution and fog in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) Federal prosecutors this week abruptly dropped fraud charges against three Chinese researchers accused of lying on visa applications about their ties to the Chinese military.
In tersely worded documents filed in two federal court cases Friday, the Justice Department asked for charges to be dismissed against Chen Song, a former Stanford researcher, and Xin Wang, who worked at a U.S. government-funded lab at the University of California, San Francisco.
By Aaron Nicodemus2021-06-02T17:36:00+01:00
Citing a lack of evidence, a California Superior Court judge dropped a bribery charge against Apple’s chief security officer.
A grand jury had charged Thomas Moyer with one count of bribery in a case that involved questionable practices by two members of the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office. The duo allegedly withheld four concealed carry weapons (CCW) permits meant for Apple security personnel in exchange for 200 iPads worth $70,000.
California Superior Court Judge Eric Geffon dismissed the bribery charge against Moyer on Tuesday, saying that Moyer lacked “corrupt intent” when he offered to donate the iPads to the sheriff’s office.
Thomas Moyer, Apple's head of security, was accused by the Santa Clara district attorney of bribing the sheriff's office with a donation of iPads in exchange for concealed weapons permits. Citing a lack of evidence, the case was thrown out by a judge Tuesday
A Santa Clara County judge dismissed the criminal case Tuesday against an Apple security executive accused of bribing sheriff’s office officials to secure.