U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE NEWS

Turab Lookman, 68, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was sentenced on Sept. 11 to five years of probation and a $75,000 fine for providing a false statement to the Department of Energy.  Lookman is not allowed to leave New Mexico for the term of his probation.

On June 6, 2018, Lookman, then an employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, falsely denied to a counterintelligence officer that he had been recruited or applied for a job with the Thousand Talents Program, established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with access to or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property.  Lookman pleaded guilty to the charge in January.

“The safeguarding of research conducted at our national laboratories is critical to the security of the United States,” said John C. Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. “I commend the work of the FBI in identifying this defendant and investigating this case. The message here is clear: if you work with foreign interests to jeopardize our national security, the Department of Justice will find you and you will be prosecuted.”

The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Kraehe and Jon Stanford prosecuted the case.