(Bloomberg) -- A senior NASA scientist admitted to lying to authorities about his participation in a program that the U.S. government says is designed to siphon intellectual property to China.

Meyya Meyyappan pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in New York to one count of making false statements, acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. Meyyappan has worked for NASA since 1996 and has been chief scientist for exploration technology at the Center for Nanotechnology at Ames Research Center in California since 2006.

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