Targeted by the State

Cheat!

Sony Music

True Crime, Tv & Film, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The day after Dr. Feng “Franklin” Tao returned from his trip to China in 2019, FBI agents were at the door of his home in Lawrence, Kansas. He was being arrested. Someone had called in a tip claiming that this University of Kansas chemistry professor might be involved in…espionage. An investigation began, under the mantle of a questionable national security program, which turned Dr. Tao’s life upside down. There was just one problem: was there ever actually any evidence to justify these suspicions? A Somethin’ Else Production. Exclusive! Grab the NordVPN deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/cheat Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the summer of 2019 and the FBI, they just got a tip on their hotline.
0:13.9	About a foreign spy hidden in the middle of America's hard land.
0:19.2	The spy in question, a professor who was pretending to work at a university in Kansas
0:25.6	when he actually held a position at a Chinese university and the tips spelled it out.
0:32.0	The professor was in the U.S. on behalf of the Chinese government, feeding information
0:36.8	back to them.
0:38.6	After a week, another tip came in, then another, then another.
0:44.7	One person sending in a tip had a document attached.
0:48.2	A contract between Dr. Tao and the university in China.
0:52.9	All of the accusations were about one person, Dr. Fang Franklin Tao.
1:01.3	Dr. Tao was born in China, but he moved to the U.S. in 2002 to study chemistry.
1:07.1	Four years ago, he got a gig at the University of Kansas as a tenure professor in a lab.
1:13.3	Dr. Tao conducts what's called fundamental or basic research for the University of Kansas.
1:20.4	This is Michael Darington.
1:21.8	He's a lawyer at the firm, Aaron Fox Schiff, which represents Dr. Tao.
1:26.9	What's interesting about basic or fundamental research is that unlike applied science,
1:31.2	it has no practical application.
1:33.2	It's what researchers often say, science for science is sake.
1:36.4	It's the pursuit of curiosities and science and theory.
1:39.8	When Tao took the job, he moved his entire life, including his wife and two sons to Lawrence
1:44.7	Kansas.
1:46.2	And now the FBI was investigating him.
	...

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