Harvard professor convicted of making false statements about China ties

• He was also found guilty of two counts of making and subscribing a false income tax return and two charges of failing to file reports of a foreign bank in China and financial accounts with the Internal Revenue Service.

Our thought bubble, via Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: The Lieber verdict comes as the DOJ's China Initiative faces intense scrutiny after a series of charges against ethnic Chinese scientists were dropped.

The big picture: Lieber had pleaded not guilty of all charges related to his affiliation with the Beijing-run Thousand Talents Program and China's Wuhan University of Technology (WUT).

• "Under the terms of Lieber’s three-year Thousand Talents contract, WUT paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $150,000 and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at WUT," per the DOJ.

• "In 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with WUT."

What's next: The court has yet to schedule a sentencing date, but Lieber faces up to five years in prison for the making false statements charge, according to the DOJ.