A Michigan research institute accused of failing to disclose Chinese government grants to two of its researchers has reached a $5.5 million settlement, the Justice Department announced Thursday, reported the South China Morning Post.
Federal officials said the Van Andel Research Institute acted with “deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard” when it applied to the US government for grants on the scientists’ behalf without also acknowledging that the researchers had been receiving funding from China.
The civil case is part of a broader crackdown by the Justice Department and other agencies on unreported foreign funding – especially from China – to researchers at American universities and institutions.
“It is imperative that recipients of NIH grant funds properly report all sources of research support, financial interests and affiliations of individual researchers to ensure the proper and effective use of taxpayer dollars,” Lamont Pugh III, a senior official with the Health and Human Service’s inspector general’s office, said in a statement.