University Professor Emeritus J. Reece Roth has been charged with transferring restricted Defense Department. data to students who are foreign nationals.
The case against Professor Emeritus J. Reece Roth is largely based on two problems the Professor created, first he allowed two foreign nationals to work on a project which was funded by the US Air Force as a Defense Dept. project, and then he also took some of that work in his laptop on a trip to China. One of the students was Chinese, the other was Iranian.
The work involved the electrically charged plasma technology to guide the air over the drones wings, rather than conventional flaps.
Dr. Roth was working for the company Atmospheric Glow Technologies (AGT), Dr Roth also has an ownership stake in AGT.
AGT and an ex-employee have made plea agreements with Federal authorities in this case and are co-operating in the investigation.The University of Tennessee is not deemed to be at fault in this case as of this time.
The trial in Knoxville is expected to take a week to complete.
As reported by Fox News the charges involve work performed from 2004 to 2006 on two Air Force contracts by Roth, UT graduates students Xin Dai of China and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran and the university spinoff company, Atmospheric Glow Technologies
AGT having already pleaded guilty to ten counts of exporting defense-related materials, but is also bankrupt and is unlikely to have the ability to pay any fines related to the case against it.
From the (Knoxville) News Sentinel
Both Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie and defense attorney Thomas Dundon confirmed in opening statements an encounter between Roth and a UT official in which the 70-year-old instructor was both informed he was breaking federal law and warned about a pending trip to China in 2006.
With the admission of being warned, the case against Dr. Roth may prove as serious as the punishment if found guilty.
The 70 year old Professor could be sent to prison for up to 160 years and fined $1.5 million.
Dr Roths attorney Thomas Dundon conceded a UT official, who has not yet been identified in court, told Roth he was violating the law.
"Dr. Roth said, 'That's crazy,' " Dundon said. "He has not stopped expressing his displeasure and his conviction this research was never subject to (the arms export law)."
With the current issues in Iran and the looming concerns in regard to China, the development of a radically new flight control system not being subject to export controls is possibly going to be a very hard sell to a jury or judge.
