An FBI investigation that began under former President Donald Trump’s China initiative ended Thursday in an acquittal, prompting Asian American civil rights groups to celebrate, reported Knox News.
U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan issued his decision on University of Tennessee professor Anming Hu to find him not guilty of fraud charges. A jury this summer deadlocked on the charges, but the Justice Department attempted to retry the case less than two months later.
“Professor Hu has suffered enough, and we welcome the judge’s decision to acquit him,” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates’ National President Linda Ng in a statement to AsAmNews. “Today’s order recognizes reality: no rational jury would find Professor Hu guilty based on the government’s evidence.”
The group APA Justice called the prosecution “reckless and deplorable.”
“The blatant disregard of the facts and misconduct in the first trial outraged APA Justice, as well as members of Congress, national and local organizations, the Asian American community, and the general public. ” it said.
Judge Varlan concluded that “no rational jury could conclude that defendant acted with a scheme to defraud NASA” in failing to disclose his affiliation with the Beijing University of Technology to UTK,” according to Axios.
“Dr. Hu is finally free to return to his life and be reunited with his family,” John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, said in a statement. But the “scars of the prosecution and investigation on Dr. Hu and his family are deep and long-lasting.”
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