MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – A federal grand jury indicted a former Auburn University professor on charges of filing false tax returns and failing to report a foreign bank account, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson, the indictment against 60-year-old Foster Dai, also known as Fa Dai, was handed down in September 2024, but was just recently unsealed.
Dai was an electrical engineering professor at Auburn, according to the indictment. He is alleged to have been a corporate executive officer of Shenzhen NRT, Co., Ltd., based in China.
The indictment alleges that Dai used accounts with China Merchants Bank and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China to receive payments from at least five entities in China. Federal authorities say the indictment claims Dai failed to report that income on his federal tax returns for 2018 through 2020.
Dai is a dual citizen of China and the United States.
U.S. citizens who have a financial interest in or authority over a bank account in a foreign country with an aggregate value of over $10,000, are required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR, in addition to the obligation to report foreign income for tax purposes.
The indictment alleges that Dai failed to file the required FBAR reports for the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China account in 2018, and the China Merchants Bank account in 2020.
An indictment simply alleges that crimes have been committed, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dai faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 if convicted. The DOJ said a federal district court judge will determine any sentence.
Agents with the IRS Criminal Investigation and FBI investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
Davidson said in a news release that Auburn University fully cooperated with law enforcement and his office during the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Kirkpatrick is prosecuting the case.
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