(CAMPUS REFORM) — Purdue University mechanical engineering technology professor and director of Purdue’s Center for Materials Processing Research Qingyou Han pleaded guilty to a felony wire fraud scheme involving the laundering of $1.3 million in federal grant money for the purpose of buying a house and funding other personal expenses.
Along with his wife, Lu Shao, Han admitted to several instances of using a private company owned by Shao called Hans Tech as a front to funnel National Science Foundation (NSF) grant money back into the family for personal expenses. The private company, Hans Tech, was created solely as a front to perpetuate an elaborate scheme in which Han used his wife’s name to write and submit grants proposals to the NSF, according to the Department of Justice. Some of these proposals involved the hiring of Han as a research subcontractor.
The NSF also paid two Hans Tech employees for research purposes. These employees turned out to be the couple’s minor children.