Friday, April 11, 2014

Conviction: Professor Cheated National Science Foundation and Students

by Gary Snyder

A professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore was convicted on April 1 in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Science Foundation and his students, the Baltimore Sun reported April 2.  

He was accused of fraudulently obtaining $200,000 in grants from the NSF’s Small Business Technology Transfer program in 2008 and 2009 and applying for an additional $500,000 through the same program. Prosecutors claimed he falsified expenditure reports and time sheets and used the funds for personal expenses, including paying his mortgage and credit card bills and paying his wife about $11,000, though she did no work for the NSF. 

He also had oversight for another $100,000 in U.S. Department of Defense grants that were supposed to be distributed to students working on contracts, but he falsely told students they needed to return part of the stipends to him. Students returned about $36,000 in grants, which he deposited in his own bank account.

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