Stanford to Pay $1.9M for Alleged Failure to Disclose Foreign Funding

Inside Higher Ed

Doug Lederman

October 4, 2023

Stanford University has agreed to pay the U.S. government nearly $2 million to resolve allegations that it failed to report financial support from foreign sources in applications for federal research grants, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

The Justice Department had alleged that Stanford “knowingly failed” to disclose support from foreign sources in 16 grant proposals, on behalf of 11 researchers, to the Departments of the Army and Navy, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, and the National Science Foundation. The news release from the Justice Department did not identify the sources, but the settlement agreement identifies the foreign sources as both in China: Fudan University and the Natural National Science Foundation of China.

The university agreed to repay the government $1,938,682, most of which is restitution.

“The failure of U.S. universities to disclose current or pending awards with foreign entities on research grant proposals submitted to the U.S. government as required by law has the potential to threaten government interests,” Assistant Director Thomas Cannizzo, of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) National Security Directorate, said in a news release from the Justice Department.

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