The U.S. District Court of Appeals reversed Friday the false-statement conviction of a former KU tenured professor and brought to an end deconstruction of the federal government’s prosecution of the chemical engineering researcher based on a secret relationship with Fuzhou University in China.
Supporters of former KU professor Franklin Tao gathered in the cold wind and rain Wednesday outside the Robert J. Dole Federal Courthouse to show support and to voice their concerns about the rise of racial profiling against Asian American scientists and academics.
A federal judge has thrown out the wire fraud convictions of a prominent KU professor, ruling that the evidence was insufficient to support them. But she upheld a jury’s conviction of Feng “Franklin” Tao for making false statements.
Carlos Moreno / KCUR
A federal jury has convicted KU chemistry professor Feng “Franklin” Tao of four counts of wire fraud. He’s the first defendant among about two dozen academics charged under a since-disbanded Trump-era program known as the China Initiative.
Carlos Moreno / KCUR
A lawyer for Feng “Franklin” Tao, a KU chemistry professor, said the government’s case was “based on air.”
Carlos Moreno / KCUR
An FBI agent instrumental in the arrest of University of Kansas professor Feng “Franklin” Tao will be called as a defense witness next week as Tao’s lawyers seek to discredit the government’s handling of the case.
The two and a half years since her husband, Franklin Tao, was arrested have been a waking nightmare for Hong Peng and the couple’s two children. Tao was the first person arrested under the China Initiative, the brainchild of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Department of Justice.
