LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors say a former UCLA physics professor has agreed to plead guilty and to pay nearly $1.7 million in penalties for defrauding the federal government.
A U.S. attorney’s statement says 75-year-old Alfred Wong agreed Thursday to admit submitting phony invoices for nanotechnology research he was performing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other agencies.
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Wong agreed to plead guilty to a federal fraud offense and pay $1.68 million to the U.S. and UCLA. The deal also settles a potential civil lawsuit.
A longtime UCLA physics professor, Wong started a pair of companies about 10 years ago to do contract research for the government.
Prosecutors say he submitted fictitious invoices saying he’d manufactured and sold components, and submitted equipment and labor costs for work unrelated to the government.
