TOPEKA, Kansas — A former University of Kansas professor whose criminal conviction from a Trump-era China Initiative prosecution was ultimately overturned is now seeking damages from the university, alleging discrimination, retaliation and lasting damage to his career.
Feng “Franklin” Tao was a tenured chemical engineering professor when an anonymous tip in 2019 accused him of espionage. He was never charged with espionage. Federal prosecutors instead pursued disclosure-related fraud allegations involving his relationship with a Chinese university.
A jury convicted Tao on several counts in 2022, but a federal judge later threw out the wire-fraud convictions. In 2024, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his remaining false-statement conviction, finding insufficient evidence that his statement was material to federal funding decisions.
Tao’s latest lawsuit alleges KU helped build the case against him and then denied him a fair opportunity to challenge his firing after his criminal case collapsed. He specifically objects to a temporary faculty review board composed of non-tenured professors, arguing they lacked the independence required to evaluate his reinstatement request.
The lawsuit seeks lost wages and unspecified compensation for reputational harm, emotional distress and other damages. Tao accepted a non-tenured academic position in Arizona in April.
His case became an early symbol of criticism surrounding the China Initiative, which the Justice Department ended in 2022 amid failed prosecutions and concerns that researchers of Chinese descent were being unfairly targeted.
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