In May 2025, Tennessee authorities were preparing to arrest a university math professor for allegedly soliciting university donations from his students and pocketing the money.
Investigative records paint the picture of a professor who took financial and personal advantage of his students for years – from manipulating them into paying him rent to making them clean up after his dog – and grew vengeful when they spoke out about his alleged crimes.
As state investigators closed in, the professor, Don Hong, tried to get revenge against a student who reported him by accusing her of research misconduct and telling a journal to retract a study she recently authored, according to an investigative report from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. When a grand jury indicted Hong on May 5, 2025, for theft and forgery, it tacked on a retaliation charge for his actions against the student.
But later that month, the International Journal of Computer Mathematics retracted a paper about mortgage rates by Ph.D. student Danlei Zhu, an advisee of Hong’s, and four others in the department of mathematical science at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro. According to the retraction notice, “significant concerns” were raised about the study’s methodology following publication, and an independent external review determined the methodology and statistical analysis “were incorrect” and the conclusions “unreliable.”
Whether the IJCM paper is the same article referenced in the state’s investigative report is unclear. Taylor & Francis, which publishes the title, would not tell us what prompted the journal’s investigation. Jennifer McMillan, vice president for external communications for Taylor & Francis, told us the company did not have “anything further to add” to the retraction notice.
However, the details may soon be revealed in an upcoming court trial. Hong has a status hearing in his theft case scheduled for Sept. 25. He has not yet entered a plea, according to court officials. A jury trial is set for March 1, 2027.
Hong was among the faculty who taught and supervised research in the university’s Computational & Data Science Ph.D. program, home to all authors on the retracted International Journal of Computer Mathematics at the time of publication.
Hong did not return messages seeking comment.
Zhu and her coauthors did not return multiple messages seeking comment. Zhu was vice president of graduate affairs for the university’s Actuarial Math Student Association between 2022 and 2023. Hong, coordinator of MTSU’s Actuarial Science Program, previously served as faculty advisor for the student group.
Hong has worked at MTSU since 2005 and remains an active professor of mathematical sciences at the institution, according to a university spokesperson. As part of his role, Hong travels to China to recruit students and create partnerships with other universities, according to the Comptroller’s report.
State authorities started investigating Hong after an MTSU internal audit revealed questionable financial transactions between the professor and students. Investigators learned Hong encouraged students to donate to the Actuarial Science Program, but the donations were transferred to Hong’s personal bank account rather than to the university. Between January 2020 and May 2024, Hong stole at least $8,225.48 in university donations, the state alleges.
Hong gave conflicting and inconsistent explanations about why he held onto the donations, including that he planned to “gradually” pay the money back, that he planned to invest the funds, and that he planned to give the money to the university at the end of the semester, according to investigators.
During their investigation, authorities interviewed various students from China who reported that before coming to the United States, Hong told them of available housing near the university.
However, Hong concealed that he or his spouse owned the housing, and he used an alias to create fictitious lease agreements with students, according to the Comptroller’s report. The professor acted as a middleman between the property arrangements, but the students were unaware to whom they were paying rent. Some students also told authorities Hong required them to take care of his dog during spring break without payment. Hong also took cash from students for “airport transportation,” which he claimed as a reimbursable expense from the university, according to investigators.
A Ph.D. student and research graduate assistant, identified as “Student 4” in the state’s report, was among the students who lived in a rental property operated by Hong. The student went to Hong’s office “multiple times” to report “an act of violence” that occurred at one of Hong’s properties between the student and her roommate and to ask for help, according to the Comptroller’s report. But “Hong advised her not to contact the police, saying it would bring shame because they are Chinese,” according to the report. Hong told the student if she moved out, “she would be responsible for the rent for the whole year.”
The student moved out of the property around February 2022, but continued paying Hong until her lease agreement ended, according to the state’s report. She told authorities that in China, “students are taught to listen to their professor(s), and she believed Hong.”
Shortly after “Student 4” and another student reported Hong’s actions to investigators, a person who called himself “Peter Panelist” began levying research misconduct accusations against her, according to the state. Hong emailed a journal under the alias to report a paper the student wrote contained plagiarism. The email, obtained by investigators, stated:
“Given the lack of methodological rigor and the apparent duplication of previous work, the paper…should be retracted. It is concerning that such a manuscript was accepted, especially in a reputable journal..”
Authorities obtained subscriber information for the email account used to send the message and traced it back to Hong. The registration IP address for “Peter Panelist” was an IP address connected to Hong’s university Microsoft account, according to state investigators.
“The investigation revealed that the accusations against Student 4 appear to be retaliatory, based on the fact that they were submitted after she reported Hong’s potential misconduct to state investigators,” the report states. “The investigation further showed that the email account for “Peter Panelist” was created approximately four days before an accusation was submitted against Student 4, indicating this account was designed merely to transmit anonymous allegations against her.”
The report does not identify which journal investigators contacted or the authors involved in the paper.
MTSU would not tell us if the research misconduct allegations against the student and her coauthors were found to be credible or if it opened an investigation into the concerns. In a statement, the university said the information we requested is “confidential under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act” and under the university’s students records policy.
“Our research misconduct policy also requires that such matters be treated confidentially by the university,” the statement said.
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