Harvard agrees to repay $1.3M for federal grant overcharges

Harvard University has agreed to pay more than $1.3 million to settle claims that a research team overcharged certain federal grants, federal prosecutors in Boston said.

team at T.H. Chan School of Public Health led by former professor Donna Spiegelman overcharged government $1,359,791 between 2009 and 2014 by overstating time and effort members put into projects funded by National Institutes of Health and Health Resources & Services ministration, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said in a statement Monday.

overcharges were self-reported by Ivy League university, statement said.

“Grant fraud wastes scarce government resources and limits availability of funding for or research,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said.

Spiegelman, in a statement released to Boston Globe through her attorney, said Harvard didn’t consult her before agreeing to a settlement and denied any wrongdoing.

Michelle Williams, dean of faculty at Chan School, said in a statement that university’s own investigation identified reporting discrepancies for Spiegelman and members of her research group that resulted in charges to NIH awards that could t be fully documented.