Charles Lieber, former chair of Harvard's Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was prosecuted under the U.S. Department of Justice’s China Initiative. Arrested in January 2020, he faced six felony charges, including

• Making false statements to federal authorities

• Failing to report income from China

• Failing to disclose a foreign bank account

The case centered on Professor Lieber's undisclosed ties to China’s Thousand Talents Program and Wuhan University of Technology (WUT). Prosecutors alleged that Lieber received significant compensation (including a $50,000 monthly salary and over $1.5 million in research funding) from WUT, which he failed to report to U.S. agencies while receiving U.S. grant funding.

In December 2021, a federal jury convicted Professor Lieber on all six felony charges. In April 2023, Professor Lieber was sentenced to time served, 2 years of supervised release, $50,000 fine, and $33,600 restitution.

Professor Lieber’s case became a high-profile example of the program’s controversial targeting of academics with ties to China, despite no charges of espionage.

​In May 2025, Professor Lieber accepted a new academic position in China. He joined the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS) as a full-time chair professor and is also serving as an Investigator at the newly established Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART), led by biologist Nieng Yan.