As far as I can tell, the issue is specifically about making false statements. Lieber was involved NIH funding, and as part of that had to disclose any foreign

As far as I can tell, the issue is specifically about making false statements. Lieber was involved NIH funding, and as part of that had to disclose any foreign links, so being involved in thousand talents counts. It’s unclear to me whether there would have been any issues or failure to obtain funding if Lieber had identified himself as associated with Wuhan University of Technology and with the Thousand Talents as the indictment claims he should have. Of course the case has opened the doors for the ubiquitous “China bad” vs “China good” culture war