By Randall Yip, Executive Editor
Six years after being taken from his home in 2019 and hauled into jail by FBI agents, Feng Franklin Tao admits he sometimes dreads waking up in the mornings.
“Because once I wake up, the difficulty, the challenging thing is the dark cloud over my status,” the former University of Kansas professor said in a candid interview with AsAmNews.
The chemist and chemical engineer is currently in court fighting to win his job back. The university fired him following his conviction on three counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements.
Five months later, a judge threw out the convictions on wire fraud and by 2024, the remaining charge would be dismissed. So far, the university has refused to reinstate him.
A spokeswoman from KU did not respond to request for comment for this story, but in a court filing less than two weeks ago, the university asked that Tao’s lawsuit be dismissed.
“He failed to adequately plead a discriminatory termination claim because his facts do not show he treated less favorably than other KU faculty members not in his protected class, a necessary element of the claim,” attorneys for the university argued in a court filing.
Tao has vivid memories of the events the day of his arrest. Those memories are ones he’d prefer not to relive.
“This is painful for me. I didn’t want to be interviewed,” said Tao.
However, he agreed in hopes of generating donations for his defense fund. The quest to clear his name has been an expensive one. He says he’s racked up $2.3 million in legal fees. He still owes his attorney $1.1 million after generating nearly $900,000 in donations, withdrawing from his retirement fund and borrowing the rest.
He is currently in California helping a colleague with a research project. He also has at least two speaking engagements scheduled during his stay.
Tao was the first person prosecuted under President Trump’s China Initiative which President Biden rescinded after he took office. There has been some speculation that Trump will reinstate the initiative.
Agents first intercepted Tao at the Kansas City International Airport in 2019 after he returned from a trip to Japan. They did not take him into custody, but he said another group of agents would later knock on his door at his home the same day to arrest him.
“There must have been a mistake,” Tao thought to himself at the time. “Because I didn’t do anything wrong. I couldn’t understand what happened.”
He said not only did the FBI search his home the day of his arrest, agents followed his twin 14-year-olds to school. It was their first day of high school.
He said his son would later acknowledge he would go into the restroom to cry. He also became reluctant to write down his last name on his school papers after seeing his father in the news.
His daughter until recently was taking medication to deal with her anxiety and seeing a therapist.
“I proved my innocence. I am fully exonerated. That is a fact, but look at what I experienced,” he said. “It’s really hurting because no one wins. Government didn’t win. I actually didn’t. I lost my reputation. I have a huge debt.”
He says its only through his faith in God that he’s been able to get through this. He says his will to fight comes from that faith.
Tao says he has published some 30 research papers after being fired while still listing his affiliation with KU to prove his allegiance to the university.
“They should hire me back because I made a significant contribution. I work extremely hard, I would say probably 15 hours per day. I truly believe they should hire me back.”
“I want to be a person standing up to against the injustice so that other people won’t suffer the same situation as I suffered. I believe my innocence, so I fight to the end. It’s an ordeal.”
He is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. on April 30 in Downtown San Francisco. The talk is co-sponsored by the Commitee of 100, Council of Korean Americans, Japanese American Citizens League, Stand with Asian Americans and The Asian American Foundation. You must RSVP here.
Those interested in contributing to his legal defense fund can do so here.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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