A professor at a U.S. Air Force college in Montgomery could face up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to lying to a federal agent.
Federal prosecutors say 69-year-old Xiaoming Zhang had meetings and exchanged emails with a Chinese official for years and reportedly lied about it during an investigation. Zhang is a naturalized citizen of Chinese descent and was employed at an Air War College on Maxwell Air Force Base.
The U.S. Department of Justice states that Zhang had met with the Chinese official approximately six times between the years of 2012 and 2017. Zhang was required by his employers at the Air War College to report any contacts or relationships with foreign government officials and did not do so. He was reportedly asked about the relationship in 2017 and 2020 and made false statements to federal agents before eventually admitting to being untruthful.
