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Legal Docket by CourtListener: United States v. Lookman (1:19-cr-01439)

According to the Department of Justice on Septewmber 15, 2020, Turab Lookman, 68, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was sentenced to five years of probation and a $75,000 fine for providing a false statement to the Department of Energy. Lookman is not allowed to leave New Mexico for the term of his probation.
The case is listed by DOJ as part of the "China Initiative."
On June 6, 2018, Lookman, then an employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), was accused of falsely denied to a counterintelligence officer that he had been recruited or applied for a job with the Thousand Talents Program, established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with access to or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. Lookman pleaded guilty to the charge in January 2020.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Lookman became a U.S. citizen in 2008. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea in January. He was facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on a charge of making a false statement to a federal investigator. LANL terminated Lookman after his arrest, two years after it had named him a Laboratory Fellow, one of LANL’s highest awards for its scientific staff. The co-author of two books and more than 250 scientific papers, Lookman was also honored with the lab’s Fellows prize for outstanding research in 2009 and the Distinguished Postdoctoral Mentor Award in 2016.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, federal prosecutors characterized Lookman as a serious national security threat because his high-level security clearance gave him access to critical facilities and some of the nation’s most guarded nuclear secrets. Lookman also had a number of bank accounts and possible citizenship in several countries, which prosecutors said was further proof that he had no loyalty to the U.S. Lookman’s lawyer, Paul Linnenburger, accused prosecutors of overstating his client’s level of access to highly classified information. There was no evidence Lookman ever unlawfully obtained nuclear weapons secrets or planned to share them with a foreign government.
Lookman moved with his family from India to the U.K. when he was 13 and went on to earn a doctorate in theoretical physics from King’s College at the University of London. He then spent about 20 years as a professor at a Canadian university before joining LANL. His contact with China came partly through the lab’s collaboration with that country on research projects, such as one aimed at discovering new materials that could support nuclear deterrence and the lab’s energy work. But the Department of Energy scrapped such partnerships between the lab and China after concerns grew about intellectual property theft.
Links and References
2020/09/17 Science: Former Los Alamos physicist gets probation for failing to disclose China ties
2020/09/16 美国之音: 前美国家实验室科研人员因隐瞒参与中国“千人计划”而被判刑
2020/09/15 DOJ: Former Employee At Los Alamos National Laboratory Sentenced To Probation For Making False Statements About Being Employed By China
Albuquerque Journal: Probation for former LANL scientist in lying investigation
2020/01/24 Santa Fe New Mexican: Ex-LANL scientist pleads guilty to lying to government
2019/06/13 Phys.org: US Energy Dept blocks participation in China's 'Thousand Talents' program
American Institute of Physics: DOE Barring Researchers From Rival Nations’ Talent Programs
2019/06/11 Physics World: US energy department cracks down on foreign recruitment programmes
The case is listed by DOJ as part of the "China Initiative."
On June 6, 2018, Lookman, then an employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), was accused of falsely denied to a counterintelligence officer that he had been recruited or applied for a job with the Thousand Talents Program, established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with access to or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. Lookman pleaded guilty to the charge in January 2020.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Lookman became a U.S. citizen in 2008. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea in January. He was facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on a charge of making a false statement to a federal investigator. LANL terminated Lookman after his arrest, two years after it had named him a Laboratory Fellow, one of LANL’s highest awards for its scientific staff. The co-author of two books and more than 250 scientific papers, Lookman was also honored with the lab’s Fellows prize for outstanding research in 2009 and the Distinguished Postdoctoral Mentor Award in 2016.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, federal prosecutors characterized Lookman as a serious national security threat because his high-level security clearance gave him access to critical facilities and some of the nation’s most guarded nuclear secrets. Lookman also had a number of bank accounts and possible citizenship in several countries, which prosecutors said was further proof that he had no loyalty to the U.S. Lookman’s lawyer, Paul Linnenburger, accused prosecutors of overstating his client’s level of access to highly classified information. There was no evidence Lookman ever unlawfully obtained nuclear weapons secrets or planned to share them with a foreign government.
Lookman moved with his family from India to the U.K. when he was 13 and went on to earn a doctorate in theoretical physics from King’s College at the University of London. He then spent about 20 years as a professor at a Canadian university before joining LANL. His contact with China came partly through the lab’s collaboration with that country on research projects, such as one aimed at discovering new materials that could support nuclear deterrence and the lab’s energy work. But the Department of Energy scrapped such partnerships between the lab and China after concerns grew about intellectual property theft.
Links and References
2020/09/17 Science: Former Los Alamos physicist gets probation for failing to disclose China ties
2020/09/16 美国之音: 前美国家实验室科研人员因隐瞒参与中国“千人计划”而被判刑
2020/09/15 DOJ: Former Employee At Los Alamos National Laboratory Sentenced To Probation For Making False Statements About Being Employed By China
Albuquerque Journal: Probation for former LANL scientist in lying investigation
2020/01/24 Santa Fe New Mexican: Ex-LANL scientist pleads guilty to lying to government
2019/06/13 Phys.org: US Energy Dept blocks participation in China's 'Thousand Talents' program
American Institute of Physics: DOE Barring Researchers From Rival Nations’ Talent Programs
2019/06/11 Physics World: US energy department cracks down on foreign recruitment programmes