Three New York University researchers from China divulged results from a federally funded study to Chinese competitors in exchange for tuition, rent and other expenses.
Federal prosecutors said that Yudong Zhu, a U.S.-educated NYU professor, and Xing Yang, a lab engineer, were released on bail after appearing in federal court in Manhattan to face commercial bribery and other charges.
According to the Huffington Post, the third culprit, post-doctoral fellow Ye Li, was at large. Authorities believe he flew to China before charges were brought.
A criminal complaint alleged that the three provided non-public information about magnetic resonance imaging to a medical company in China, United Imaging Healthcare, and a research institute supported by the Chinese government, the report said.
Authorities said 44-year-old Zhu, who is an accomplished researcher and innovator in the field of MRI technology, was hired as associate professor of radiology at NYU Langone Medical Center in 2008.
In 2010, Zhu received a multimillion-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health for his MRI research, and later recruited Yang and Li to work for him.
Earlier this year, NYU launched an internal review that uncovered the conflict of interest, authorities said.
When confronted by NYU administrators, Li told them that he was paid thousands of dollars this year by the Chinese institute for work on its MRI project.
