Federal judge acquits Tennessee professor with ties to China

By TRAVIS LOLLER
Associated Press

A federal judge has thrown out all charges against a University of Tennessee professor accused of hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving research grants from NASA. Anming Hu was arrested in February, charged with wire fraud and making false statements. In June, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked. On Thursday, the judge acquitted Hu. He found prosecutors had not proven Hu intended to harm NASA, which is prohibited from collaborating with China or Chinese corporations. Further, although NASA has interpreted that prohibition to include Chinese universities, the judge cited evidence that the prohibition was far from clear.