ArentFox Schiff White Collar Team Secures Complete Victory at Trial and on Appeal in High-Profile ‘China Initiative’ Prosecution

Dr. Tao was represented by AFS Government Enforcement & White Collar Partners Peter R. Zeidenberg and Michael F. Dearington. The acquittal marks the successful end to a five-year battle between Dr. Tao and the DOJ — at trial and on appeal at the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit — resulting in his complete exoneration on all charges.

Dr. Tao, an accomplished KU professor and recipient of the Chancellor’s Award, was charged in August 2019 with four counts of federal wire fraud and program fraud for allegedly failing to disclose a job opportunity at a Chinese university to KU and two federal agencies that funded his research. After Dr. Tao vowed to fight the charges, the DOJ expanded the indictment and charged ten counts of wire fraud and false statements. Over the next few years, the AFS team filed numerous pretrial motions, including motions to dismiss and to suppress, which the district court denied, and engaged in extensive discovery.

Dr. Tao’s prosecution garnered significant media attention, including stories in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Reuters, Politico, NBC News, and The New Yorker. The DOJ touted the case as the first prosecution of its kind under the controversial China Initiative and as a blueprint for future prosecutions of academics with allegedly hidden ties to China. Although the DOJ National Security Division announced that it would end the controversial China Initiative in February 2022, just one month before Dr. Tao’s trial, the DOJ continued its prosecution of Dr. Tao.  

Following a nearly three-week trial beginning in March 2022, Dr. Tao was acquitted of three wire fraud counts and one false statement count. After the government moved to dismiss two more counts, the district court entered a judgment of acquittal on the three remaining wire fraud counts, overturning the jury’s guilty verdicts on those counts. The only count that remained was a single false statement count, which alleged that Dr. Tao failed to correctly complete an internal KU Institutional Responsibilities form. The district court sentenced Dr. Tao to time-served for the false statement count, and declined to impose any penalties or forfeiture. Despite a substantial win at trial, the AFS team appealed Dr. Tao’s single false statement conviction to the Tenth Circuit in January 2023.  

On July 11, following briefing and oral argument, the Tenth Circuit reversed Dr. Tao’s final remaining count of conviction and remanded the case with an order that the district court enter an acquittal on the final false statement count. On August 7, the district court entered a judgment of acquittal on the final count, delivering Dr. Tao and the AFS team a complete victory on all charges in the ten-count indictment, following nearly five years of litigation. The AFS team congratulates Dr. Tao and his family on this outcome.  

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