A former University of California Irvine computer engineer was recently charged for allegedly accepting secret payments from a well-known Japanese telecommunications firm that was funding his academic research. According to the Voice of Orange County, 59-year-old Tatsuya Suda was a member of the educational institution's faculty for over two decades, and he now faces six felony counts in Superior Court in Santa Ana for allegedly receiving up to $700,000 in illegal funds between 2006 to 2009 from the Japanese corporation KDDI Inc.

Suda is the first professor in the university's history to ever be criminally charged for violating California's system for monitoring and preventing conflicts of interest, according to the source. For the past three decades, the U.S. government has required all institutions receiving federal funding to report all their assets. Suda paid $14,000 in fines in 2011 to the state Fair Political Practices Commission, an organization which oversees the regulation of potential professor conflicts throughout the university's 10 campuses, for allegedly misreporting his travel expenses.

A UC Irvine spokeswoman told the Voice of Orange County that Suda left his position with the institution on October 31, 2010 and that he had been earning $155,000 annually. At the time of his departure, the university stated he was retiring, however, the institution now declines to give a reason for his departure.

He was arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail last November on the charges, and was unable to pay his $50,000 bail until April 19.

According to OC Weekly, Suda is known throughout the technology community for his pioneering research ideas, which included predicting the future use of biological molecules for computer chip switches. In 2006, he was awarded $1.35 million in research grants for his efforts in the technology sector. His arrest is most likely going to garner attention from the academic community, as there has been a debate over whether or not professional conflicts at professional institutions will also include the protection of discoveries that could eventually lead to valuable patents.

Authorities told the Voice of Orange County that there have been a number of studies published that suggest that the most valuable patents through academic research aren't reported to university administrators, but rather diverted to private firms like the one Suda was utilizing. The firms generally capitalize on the patents without sharing any of the rewards with public institutions, which is against federal regulations and law.