Harvard Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate Cases

"Dr. Charles Lieber, 60, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University"

>The charging documents, unsealed Tuesday, allege that under the Thousand Talents contract Lieber was paid $50,000 in monthly salary by China's Wuhan University of Technology and another $158,000 in living expenses. He was also awarded some $1.74 million to set up a research lab there.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/harvard-s-chemistry-cha...

I'm always astounded by how little money it takes to bribe someone. An Ivy-League chair makes around $250,000, which probably underestimates his salary (STEM is generally higher than humanities), does not include income made from legitimate consulting opportunities, and does not include any residual income from his patents and former companies. Since he wasn't charged with tax fraud I assume he reported his income correctly, which would mean that his total compensation was at most 3-4X'ed by this deal (but probably closer to 2-3X'ed) over a ten year time period.

The difference between 500K/year and 1M/year in household income is a significant difference in lifestyle but not enormous. You may fly first class instead of business, but you aren't buying any private jets. Your children don't need to worry about college and, as a Chair, have access to strong social network, but you won't have your name on a building. You probably have the best house in your academic neighborhood, but you're not buying rare art to hang on the walls.

Meanwhile, the downside is throwing away 40 years of hard work, loss of your other income sources, and possibly prison.

Interesting this is coming to light right as China gets hit with a deadly virus from Wuhan...