Three researchers at a New York University Medical Center lab provided results from a federally funded study to Chinese competitors in exchange for tuition, rent and other expenses, federal prosecutors said today.
Yudong Zhu and Xing Yang were to appear in federal court in Manhattan to face commercial bribery and other charges. The third defendant, Ye Li, was at large.
A criminal complaint alleges the three provided nonpublic information about magnetic resonance imaging to a medical company in China and a research institution supported by the Chinese government.
NYU security cameras captured Yang last month taking photos of equipment in one research area, the complaint says. When confronted, he told administrators that the Chinese company was paying his USD 20,000 tuition, it adds.
The names of defense attorneys for Zhu and Yang were not immediate available.
In a statement, US Attorney Preet Bharara called the three men "foxes in the hen house" who "deceived the university and other about their professional allegiances."
The three worked at NYU Langone Medical Center. A spokesman there said today that they had all been suspended.
