Date: May 09, 2013 Author: Hector Becerra Source: Los Angeles Times (
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By Hector Becerra
A former UCLA physics professor has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges and pay almost $1.7 million for turning in false invoices related to nanotechnology research he was performing for the Department of Defense.
Alfred Wong, 75, of Westwood was charged Thursday morning with making a false claim to the United States.
Wong had been given a contract to do work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other government entities. But Assistant U.S Atty. Daniel J. O'Brien said the longtime professor ended up creating fake billings through one of several companies he created to drive up his profits.
Wong will be summoned to appear in federal court for his arraignment on June 6. He could be sentenced by the end of the summer, O'Brien said.
Wong served as the director of the Plasma Physics Laboratory at UCLA, as well as the director of the High Power Auroral Stimulation Observatory near Fairbanks, Alaska.
According to federal prosecutors, about 10 years ago, Wong and two companies he founded -- Non-Linear Ion Dynamics Inc. and the International Foundation for Science, Health and the Environment, both based in Van Nuys -- entered into a series of contracts worth more than $25 million with the U.S. He was to research the feasibility of nanotechnology batteries for defense uses and to conduct other research.
Wong also founded Alfred Wong Technologies, a Beverly Hills-based entity he created to manage various patents. O'Brien said Wong ended up creating fictitious invoices at AWT that claimed the company had manufactured and sold nanotechnology components to Non-Linear Ion Dynamics.
"Fraudulent invoices totaling $160,000 were then submitted to the Defense Department for payment," prosecutors said.
O'Brien said that Wong did not tell the government that both companies were his, and that in fact AWT did not have the capacity to do any manufacturing. According to his contract with the government, the professor was to be paid not only for the costs incurred, but also paid a profit on top of that, O'Brien said.
Wong also submitted false vouchers through the international foundation and NID to the Department of the Interior for improvements on his privately owned land, as well as for equipment and labor costs that were not related to the government contract, according to court records.
In addition to agreeing to plead guilty, Wong agreed to pay a total of $1,686,000 in fines, restitution and damages to the government and UCLA.
