Legal Docket by CourtListener: USA v. Mingqing Xiao (4:21-cr-40039)
​GoFundMe: https://bit.ly/3LP8Z2c

2022/09/20  USA v. Mingqing Xiao (4:21-cr-40039): Doc 219 Judgment
2022/09/19 Science: U.S. math professor gets probation, not prison, in China Initiative case
2022/09/07 The Daily Egyptian: “He just wants to teach:” Supporters urge SIU to return Mingqing Xiao to campus
                     The Daily Egyptian: Letter to the editor:  Bring back Professor Xiao

Click image to view SIU Faculty Senate Resolution

On April 21, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the indictment of Professor Mingqing Xiao, a mathematics professor and researcher at Southern Illinois University (SIU) with two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement as part of the "China Initiative." 

Professor Xiao is the last academic to be indicted under the now-defunct "China Initiative."  The ill-conceived counterintelligence program was created purportedly to stop China from spying and stealing our intellectual property, but drifted to criminalize innocent Chinese American academics for administrative issues such as disclosure of perfectly lawful activity.  The "China Initiative" was shut down in February 2022 as DOJ admitted that it was not "the right approach."

However, the prosecution of Professor Xiao continues after the DOJ claimed to have reviewed all existing prosections and investigations without release of any detail.  

On December 14, 2021, the SIU Faculty Senate passed a resolution calling on the University to immediately end its disciplinary investigation and restore Professor Xiao to regular, full-time status; and recommends that the University provide material and legal support for Professor Xiao’s defense against prosecution by the Department of Justice.

Professor Xiao's jury trial started in Benton, Illinois, on April 25, 2022.   He was acquitted of all charges of grant fraud and making false statement in the original indictment filed in April 2021.  However, he was found guilty on four tax charges - three counts that he did not check the box on 3 years of his taxes indicating that he had a foreign bank account, and one count that he did not file a Foreign Bank Account Report.  

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Who is Mingqing Xiao?

​Dr. Mingqing Xiao was born in the Guangzhou city of China in 1961 and has been a resident of the United States since 1991 and a U.S. citizen since 2006. He earned an undergraduate degree from Guongdong University of Technology in 1982, a Master’s Degree in Mathematics from Zhongshan University in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1997. From 1997 to 1999, Dr. Xiao worked as a visiting research professor at the University of California at Davis.

Since January 2000, he has served on the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, having been granted tenure and promotion in 2002 and promotion to full professor in 2007. Dr. Xiao has also served as a faculty research fellow with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the summers of 2001 and 2002. His research area is mainly in applied mathematics, such as differential equations and computational science.

​Dr. Xiao has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and referenced conference publications. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and serves on the editorial boards of many prestigious Mathemathatics -related journals. In 2016, Dr. Xiao was named the SIU College of Science Outstanding Scholar. In 2020, he received the Good Neighbor Award from WSIU Public Broadcasting for his work from 2013 to the present volunteering his Saturday teaching middle and high school students in mathematics enrichment, and coaching the local MathCounts team.

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Links and References

2022/05/05 Reuters: ​​Illinois professor convicted of failing to report Chinese bank account
                     Science: U.S. math professor found guilty in latest China Initiative trial
2022/04/22 USA v. Mingqing Xiao (4:21-cr-40039) Doc. 116: Motion to compel discovery pf any material evidence in the possession, custody, or control of the National Security Division
2021/12/14 SIU Faculty Senate: Resolution to Support Professor Mingqing Xiao 
2021/12/07 The Southern Ilinoisan: Faculty, friends crowdfund to cover indicted SIU professor's legal fees; $25K raised
2021/12/02 Inside Higher Ed: A Growing Chorus of Concern
2021/11/18 The Southern Illinoisan: SIU Faculty Association calls for university to halt investigation into indicted math professor
2021/10/11 The Southern Illinoisan: Feds pin additional charges on SIU math professor accused of scheming for grant dollars
2021/09/03 USA v. Mingqing Xiao (4:21-cr-40039) Doc. 42: Motion to Dismiss
2021/04/26 The Southern Illinoisan:  ​SIUC math professor, researcher indicted in $152,000 grant fraud scheme, DOJ says
2021/04/21 DOJ: Mathematics Professor and University Researcher Indicted for Grant Fraud