Washington State Prof Charged With $8M Research Fraud

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday charged a professor at Washington State University and two family members with defrauding federal agencies of $8 million in research funds for their personal use.

Haifang Wen, the Colf Distinguished Professor in Civil Engineering at Washington State, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he and his brother and sister-in-law had set up false businesses and conspired to defraud the government of grants designed to help small firms develop asphalt composition technologies. Wen and the others face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.