Harvard professor Charles Lieber was found guilty of lying to federal investigators about his ties to a Chinese government talent recruitment program in a trial that marks a victory for a controversial Department of Justice initiative. 

A Boston jury convicted Lieber, 62, of misleading investigators about his involvement in China’s Thousand Talents Program, launched in 2008 to recruit overseas academics in exchange for salaries, research funding and other perks. The Justice Department contends the program’s main purpose is to steal trade secrets from the U.S., and that Lieber improperly concealed his ties to China while his research group at Harvard received more than $15 million in grants from two federal agencies.