After a week of deliberation, a jury returned a guilty verdict on four charges related to wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The microbiome-testing company made misleading claims about its prospects and about its business strategy, which allegedly relied on fooling doctors into ordering unnecessary tests, according to the US government.
Illinois-based Surgisphere Corporation had a brief moment in the limelight this year following its infamous study of hydroxychloroquine. But the impact of the company’s deception reverberated across world.
The high-profile retractions of two COVID-19 studies stunned the scientific community earlier this year and prompted calls for reviews of how science is conducted, published, and acted upon. The warning signs had been there all along.
Four Chinese nationals have been charged with visa fraud after revelations that they sent information on the layout of US labs and research carried out by colleagues back to China.
The company had helped develop a tool to aid decision-making in distributing limited medical equipment among coronavirus patients, but two high-profile retractions call into question the validity of Surgisphere’s work in toto.
A second investigation by the school concludes that David Latchman, also the head of Birkbeck, University of London, was not involved in the image manipulation found in papers he coauthored.
Changsheng is found to have forged records for a rabies vaccine and is accused of distributing thousands of substandard DPT immunizations to be used in children.
Ashutosh Tiwari, who falsely claimed to be affiliated with Linköping University, is also under investigation for alleged scientific misconduct and fraud.