The government alleges in the indictment that he signed a contract to setup a joint research lab between Harvard and the Chinese university without informing Ha

The government alleges in the indictment that he signed a contract to setup a joint research lab between Harvard and the Chinese university without informing Harvard at all let alone obtaining its permission to enter the institution into such an agreement. It also alleges that he took all payments to a bank account in China or in cash when he traveled to China and took action to conceal the deal when Harvard and the government started asking questions about it. If the allegations are true then he probably began by overstepping his authority at Harvard for his personal financial gain. He may have been reluctant to disclose the relationship as required for the US grants because doing so would have simultaneously disclosed to Harvard his egregious violation its policy, possibly resulting in termination of his employment. Maybe he was hiding the money from the IRS as well, giving him further motive to conceal and deny. Had he entered into the agreement strictly personally then he almost certainly would have told Harvard which would have disclosed it to the government. Maybe the Chinese sponsors wouldn't have offered as much money for that. Alternatively, he could have asked Harvard to enter into the agreement through the proper channels, but then in that case surely the university would be getting the money and not the professor personally.