(CNN) Federal agents have arrested an Arkansas professor who allegedly failed to disclose his ties to Chinese entities during the course of securing funding for a NASA research project, the Justice Department announced. Simon Saw-Teong Ang, 63, of Fayetteville, was arrested by FBI agents on Friday and charged with wire fraud, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit obtained by CNN. As part of his research, authorities said Ang received several grants and contracts from federal agencies, including NASA. The FBI affidavit says authorities discovered Ang's alleged ties to Chinese interests after a university employee attempted to identify the owner of a hard drive that was placed in lost-and-found at a campus library. According to the FBI , those associated with China's Thousand Talents program are individuals who work or study outside of China in high-priority research fields.

Source: CNN May 13, 2020 02:15 UTC