Overview
Steptoe & Johnson LLP secured a victory for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale professor MingQing Xiao in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois when, on May 4, U.S. District Judge Staci M. Yandle dismissed two counts of wire fraud against Xiao and a day later a jury dismissed one related count of making false statements. The dismissals acquit Xiao of all grant fraud charges stemming from the U.S. Department of Justice's China Initiative, leaving only convictions on technical foreign bank account reporting violations.
The China Initiative, which was supposed to have been halted since February 2022, targeted U.S. academics and researchers, almost always of Chinese descent, and was intended to address the improper transfer to the Chinese government of trade secrets and information relating to national security acquired during the course of federally-funded research. In this case, however, no such allegations were brought. Instead, prosecutors originally alleged that Xiao fraudulently failed to disclose his alleged contractual obligations to Shenzhen University and an alleged grant award from the Natural Science Foundation of China's Guangdong Province when he and Southern Illinois University applied for a grant with the U.S. National Science Foundation. On the eve of the first trial date, the Government superseded to add charges that Dr. Xiao willfully failed to report the existence of a Chinese bank account. Steptoe secured judgment of acquittal from Judge Yandle as to Counts 1 and 2 (wire fraud) at the close of the Government’s case in chief, and an acquittal from the jury as to Count 3 (false statement).
In a joint statement, Xiao's attorneys, Steptoe lawyers Ryan Poscablo and Patrick Linehan, and co-counsel Michelle D. Nasser of Dowd Bennett LLP, said, "Professor Xiao's acquittal on the grant fraud counts serves as a complete rebuke of the Department of Justice's China Initiative. We are thankful that those counts were rejected by the court and the jury, as we believe that they were unjust, improperly motivated, and unsupported by the facts and the law."
The Steptoe team representing Xiao included partners Ryan Poscablo and Patrick Linehan, and associates Jay Hobbs, Brittney Denley, and Josh Dupre.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
