A NASA researcher and Texas A&M University professor has pleaded guilty to charges related to hiding his ties to a university created by the Chinese government while accepting federal grant money
Zhengdong Cheng pleaded guilty to two counts — violation of NASA regulations and falsifying official documents — during a hearing in Houston federal court on Thursday.when he was arrested in August 2020U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sentenced Cheng to the time he had already served during his pretrial incarceration — about 13 months.An attorney for Cheng did not immediately return a call or email seeking comment on Friday.
But, prosecutors say, Cheng violated those restrictions by maintaining multiple undisclosed associations with China, including serving as director of a soft matter institute at a technology university in Guangdong, China, that was established by China’s Ministry of Education. Cheng was fired from Texas A&M shortly after his arrest. Texas A&M is located about 90 miles northwest of Houston.