Dr. Dong Pyou Han, a former researcher at Iowa State, is facing federal charges after falsifying HIV/AIDS research that led to the appropriation of millions of dollars in grant money to develop a bogus vaccine. 

Han was arrested on June 16 and appeared before a judge in Ohio. Han was subsequently released and has been directed to appear at the federal courthouse in Des Moines on June 24.

Han faces four felony counts of making false statements. Each count carries with it a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Han resigned from Iowa State in 2013, saying he was “ashamed,” after admitting to using human antibodies to spike rabbit blood in an effort to make it appear that gp41, the HIV vaccine he was helping to develop, was combatting the virus effectively when it was not. 

“First, Dr. Han falsified data in files of neutralization experiments performed at Iowa State University to make it appear that rabbits immunized with gp41 produced broadly neutralizing antibodies, when in fact, there was very little or no broadly neutralizing activity,” according to the indictment. “Dr. Han then reported the fake results to Dr. [Michael] Cho.”

Han managed Cho’s laboratory at Iowa State from 2009 to 2013, and he worked with Cho at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in the same capacity before accompanying Cho to his new position at Iowa State. 

According to the indictment, Han’s fraud extends as back as far as his time in Ohio in 2008.