Disgraced College Researcher Used Actors to Testify on His Behalf

This guy seems like a perfect fit for the man-made global warming crowd.

A former researcher at the University at Buffalo was criminally charged today with using actors to portray witnesses testifying on his behalf at a formal misconduct hearing.

The testimony from the bogus witnesses enabled William Fals-Stewart, 48, of Eden, to be exonerated, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

Fals-Stewart then attempted to sue the state for $4 million, claiming he had been wrongly forced out of his job.

"The Office of Attorney General, in its role of defending the university and the state in the court action, conducted a thorough investigation of the claims against the university," Cuomo said in a press statement issued this afternoon. "It was during this investigation that [investigators] discovered the alleged fraud, forced Fals-Stewart to withdraw his lawsuit and initiated a criminal investigation."

How stupid. He wound up getting the boot from the University of Buffalo and could have simply moved on, but he got greedy. Oh, and where was it he landed since then? Why, Harvard, of course. Granted, it appears the folks there have caught wind of his fraud and redirected his homepage here. He's also listed as being affiliated with the University of Rochester at some point.

Fals-Stewart was arrested today on charges of attempted grand larceny, three counts of perjury, three counts of identity theft, two counts of offering a false instrument and three counts of falsifying business records, all felonies.

Authorities said Fals-Stewart engaged in the fraudulent conduct in an attempt to rescue his reputation after leaving his UB job, under pressure, in 2005. He left after being accused of scientific misconduct, for allegedly fabricating data in a federally funded study.

In court papers, prosecutors said Fals-Stewart hired three actors to portray witnesses supporting Fals-Stewart. The witnesses testified by telephone because Fals-Stewart claimed they were out of town and unavailable to appear in person.

"In reality, they were actors who thought they were taking part in a mock trial," the attorney general's office said. "[Fals-Stewart] told the three actors, who he had hired before for legitimate training videos, that they would be performing in a mock trial training exercise. They were not aware that they were testifying at a real administrative hearing, nor did they know they were impersonating real people."

Fals-Stewart, a former researcher at UB's Research Institute on Addictions, is accused of providing the actors with "scripts" that "were riddled with inaccuracies regarding his research," state attorneys said.

Maybe there's an opening at the University of East Anglia.

Fals-Stewart received an award while at Rochester in 2008. The folks who gave him that want want to do an inquiry themselves, unless his science is settled, of course.

Here's another Harvard-related page with him still listed. The felony complaint is here. He faces 15 years for his crimes.