On Friday, the Justice Department abruptly dropped criminal charges against a scientist who was accused of sharing sensitive technology with China. Why? In a federal court filing, prosecutors stated that "additional information came to the attention of the government." In other words, they f*cked up. A lot.
U.S. Drops Charges That Professor Shared Technology With China
Last May, the Justice Department arrested 57-year-old Xiaoxing Xi, the former chairman of Temple University's physics department and a globally recognized expert in the field of superconductivity. Mr. Xi, a naturalized American citizen, was accused of sending sensitive information to scientists in China. Federal agents, guns drawn, raided his home and took him away in handcuffs.
The most damning piece of evidence appeared to be schematics for a piece of semiconductor research equipment known as a pocket heater. Prosecutors say Xi sent the schematics, which he had sworn to keep secret, to scientists in China. Unfortunately, neither the FBI nor the Justice Department bothered to put in the research to figure out the embarrassing truth: the schematics were not for a pocket heater.
