Federal prosecutors are dropping their case against an MIT professor accused of hiding his connections with China

• Federal prosecutors are dropping their case against MIT professor Gang Chen, who's accused of hiding his connection to China on grant applications.
• US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts said Thursday that her office "can no longer meet our burden of proof at trial."

Federal prosecutors have moved to drop charges against Gang Chen, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was charged with grant fraud and accused of withholding information on his affiliations with Chinese government institutions in applications for federal grants.

US Attorney for District of Massachusetts Rachael S. Rollins announced Thursday that her office would not be moving forward with the case because "we can no longer meet our burden of proof at trial."

Chen was accused of withholding information about his China affiliations when applying for $2.7 million in grants from the US Department of Energy in 2017, the New York Times reported.

His January 14, 2021, arrest was in conjunction with the China Initiative, a government effort to stop scientists from sharing sensitive information with China, The Times reported.

According to The Times, the Department of Energy told prosecutors they would have given the grant money to Chen even if he had disclosed his ties with China appropriately.

At the time of his arrest, Chen pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him, court filings seen by Insider say.

"Today is a great day," Chen's lawyer, Robert Fisher told Insider. "The government finally acknowledged what we have said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man. Our defense was never based on any legal technicalities. Our defense was this: Gang did not commit any of the offenses he was charged with. Full stop."