ROANOKE, Va. – A former Virginia Tech engineering professor is now officially charged with defrauding the government.
A federal grand jury indicted Yiheng Zhang, 46, of Blacksburg, with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States, three counts of making false statements within the US, and three counts of making false claims to the US.
Zhang, who previously taught biological systems engineering, was also the chief scientific officer of Cell-Free Bioinnovations. According to the indictment, CFB applied for grant funding available through the National Science Foundation under the premise that the money would be used for research on certain projects. However, it is alleged the Zhang used the funds for other purposes.
The grants totaled $600,000.