Kansas researcher convicted of illegal secret China work
![](https://abc17news.b-cdn.net/abc17news.com/2021/06/kmiz.jpg)
HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press
A researcher was convicted Thursday of illegally concealing work he was doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas. But U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson continues to weigh a defense motion to dismiss the case against Feng “Franklin” Tao of Lawrence, Kansas. Jurors found him guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements for not disclosing on conflict of interest forms that he had been named to a Chinese talent program, the Changjiang Professorship, on grant applications. As part of that program he traveled to China to set up a laboratory and recruit staff for Fuzhou University, telling the University of Kansas he was in Germany instead.