Teh Eng Koon/AFP/Getty
A Chinese professor at a top cancer-research center, who recently faced charges for child pornography, was already being investigated as a possible Chinese spy, according to multiple U.S. officials cited in a Tuesday report from NBC News. Keping Xie reportedly worked at Houston’s world-renowned University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where the FBI suspects that advanced research is being funneled to the Chinese government. Specifically, he was part of China’s “Thousand Talents” academic-recruitment program, which has been directly linked to espionage. While investigating Xie for allegedly tampering with a government record, federal agents searched his home and confiscated 88 devices—two of which, investigators later discovered, contained child pornography labeled “Tiger and Dragon 1” and “Tiger and Dragon 2.” NBC notes that Xie resigned from his job at Anderson soon after his home was raided in April of this year, but before investigators discovered the pornography. Xie’s lawyer told NBC that his client vehemently denies the child-porn allegations, and that he was not aware of any FBI investigation for espionage.