Researcher, Accused of Academic Fraud, Now Charged with Criminal Counts for Trial Tampering
Feb 22nd, 2010 • Posted in: NewsThe actors say they were told they were participating in a mock trial, conducted via telephone; their roles were uncovered after researcher was cleared and subsequently sued for damage to his reputation
BUFFALO, N.Y.
Prosecutors in New York are examining what must rank among the more unusual academic-ethics cases in recent memory: A former researcher at the State University of New York at Buffalo is accused not only of falsifying data but of hiring professional actors to impersonate subjects during a hearing about the data.
William Fals-Stewart stands accused of paying three actors to testify by phone during a misconduct hearing in 2007, the Associated Press reports.
The plot continued to thicken, reports the Buffalo News, when Fals-Stewart was acquitted of the charges — apparently with the aid of the false testimony — and then sued the state and the university for $4 million in damages.
Fals-Stewart was accused of scientific misconduct for allegedly fabricating data in federally funded studies conducted by the University of Buffalo and the Research Institute on Addictions, reports education journal Inside Higher Ed.
Buffalo television station WKBW reports that the state attorney general’s office alleges that three ersatz witnesses testified by telephone because they purportedly were out of town.
The actors, according to prosecutors, were told they would be performing in a mock trial training exercise and did not know they were impersonating real people or testifying in a real administrative hearing.
According to the WKBW report, it was Fals-Stewart’s suit for damage to his reputation that led to the discovery of the actors, because the attorney general’s office was also in charge of conducting an investigation to defend the university.
Fals-Stewart now is charged with attempted grand larceny and fraud-related counts.
Sources: Insider Higher Ed, Feb. 20 — AP, Feb. 17 — WKBW, Feb. 16 — Buffalo News, Feb. 16.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Nov. 23, 2009 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 3, 2009 — Related Newsline Commentary, Apr. 30, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 2, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 27, 2006.
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