FBI officials aren’t saying why agents searched two homes belonging to an expert at IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering.
On Friday, investigators from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security searched two homes in Bloomington and Carmel that belong to XiaoFeng Wang, an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity.
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"We conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at homes in Bloomington and Carmel,” Christine Bavender, a spokesperson for the FBI office in Indianapolis, said in an emailed statement. “We have no further comment at this time.”
Property records for the homes in Bloomington and Carmel listed Wang along with Nianli Ma as owners. Ma is a lead systems analyst/programer at the Herman B Wells Library, according to an IU webpage that is also no longer online.
Wang spent more than two decades teaching and researching at IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. But in recent weeks, references to Wang and his work have also disappeared from university websites.
IU spokesperson Mark Bode declined to answer emailed questions about Wang’s employment status or history at the university.
“I’ll refer you to the FBI for any information,” Bode said.
Messages sent to Wang’s and Ma’s university emails were returned as undeliverable. Their office phone numbers also appear to be disconnected.
A spokesperson for the Luddy school and the HR director at the Wells library didn’t immediately return messages over the weekend.
Neither Wang nor Ma have been publicly accused of any wrongdoing.
Cathy Knapp contributed reporting for this story.
