September 11, 2015
Federal prosecutors filed a motion at the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia Friday seeking to drop charges against a Temple University physics professor accused of scheming to provide secret U.S. technology China.
EARLIER STORY: Temple prof. accused of fraud remaining on faculty
Xi Xiaoxing, 57, pleaded not guilty to four counts of wire fraud in June. The indictment alleged that Xi, of Penn Valley, worked for an unnamed U.S. company where researchers had developed revolutionary superconducting technology. He was accused of violating an agreement to reproduce, sell, transfer or otherwise distribute the device to any third party.
Xi served as chairman of Temple's physics department until his arrest, but remained on the university's faculty, where he has been employed since 2009.
According to the Associated Press, the motion to dismiss the four counts of wire fraud came after the government received unspecified "additional information" following the initial charges.
Prior to joining Temple, Xi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was a professor of physics and materials science and engineering at Penn State University. He received doctorate degrees in physics from Peking University and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, in 1987.
His daughter, Joyce Xi, expressed relief at the motion to drop the charges after what she described as a difficult time for the family.
