Post-Tribune |

Purdue professor, wife plead guilty to defrauding $1.3M from National Science Foundation

A Purdue University professor and his wife pled guilty Friday to using $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation for personal expenses.

Qingyou Han, 61, of West Lafayette, and his wife Lu Shao, 53, of Lakewood, Ohio, pled guilty to wire fraud in the Northern District of Indiana’s Hammond court.

They are accused of using federal research grants to pay off their mortgage, buy a second home and paying their then-school aged children to help conceal money they were paying themselves, documents state.

Han, an engineering professor and director of the Purdue Center for Materials Processing Research, helped set up the scheme between 2006 to 2014 to divert the money to Hans Tech LLC, a side company run by his wife, records state.

They listed their two children, then 9 and 14, as employees, according to court filings.

“The National Science Foundation small business grants are funded by taxpayer dollars and are meant to be used as seed money to help fuel innovation and advancement in science and technology,” U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch said in a Friday release.

“Schemes such as this, carried out by an otherwise well-respected member of the scientific community, are an affront to NSF and the hard-working employees who administer its grants, and they also deprive other more deserving small businesses from bringing their innovations and advancements to the U.S. marketplace,” he said.

The National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Michigan City Police Department assisted the investigation.

Purdue University spokesman Tim Doty said Monday that Han is still employed there.

“We have not yet reviewed the agreement or discussed the matter with the professor,” Doty said. “Once all information is available to us, the university will carefully consider the matter in light of its policies and make decisions in a manner consistent with those policies and the professor’s right to due process under university procedures.”

Sentencing is scheduled for January 21 in Hammond.