For the past few months, the space technology and exploration company “NASA” was under a lot of pressure from the American authorities. The main reason behind the pressure was that one of the scientists from NASA made a claim that threw the entire company under the bus.
According to the scientist, he was not involved in helping the Chinese government in recruiting individuals that had intellectual properties for a particular project.
However, the scientist finally opened about his statement at the New York federal court during the hearing. The scientist from NASA pleaded guilty that he had spread wrong information and rumors surrounding his involvement with the Chinese government.
The name of the NASA scientist is MeyyaMeyyappan who is 66-year-old and is a resident in Pacifica, California. The Department of Justice charged him with one count for making false statements and spreading wrong information.
The Department of Justice has also released a statement about the NASA scientist. The statement added that MeyyaMeyyappan was one of the highly trusted scientists in the company with a highly trusted position. He was among the scientists that had access to intellectual property that is of very high value and importance.
The statement cleared that although the scientist was involved in the project run by the Chinese Government, still he claimed that he was not. During the questioning, and interrogation conducted by the investigators of NASA, the scientist claimed he had no involvement in the program whatsoever.
Later, the scientist stood by the same statement when he was questioned by the Department of Justice and FBI. The statement claimed that the scientist has finally pleaded guilty and is now waiting for the final sentencing on the matter.
The above statement was released by Audrey Strauss who is the acting US Attorney.
MeyyaMeyyappan has been the chief scientist at NASA since 2006 for its Exploration Technology. The NASA facility he had been working from is the Ames Research Center that is situated in California.
The scientist had been involved in the “Thousand Talents Program” that was initiated by the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government had launched the program to recruit individuals who had the knowledge or had access to foreign technology.
Apart from the above, the individuals could also have access to intellectual property and were professors at the universities from allocated countries. The names of the countries the program was looking for included China, Japan, and South Korea.
According to the Department of Justice, the scientist failed to disclose his role and position in the program. When questioned by the U.S. Office of Ethics and NASA, the scientist claimed that he had no involvement in the program with the Chinese Government.