Francesca Gino, a former Harvard professor whose career was tarnished by scandal, reportedly earned over $1 million annually at her peak. This revelation comes amidst accusations that she manipulated data in research papers focusing on honesty.

Gino, who was previously considered a standout figure in behavioral science, ranked as the fifth-highest paid employee at Harvard for both 2018 and 2019, as reported by records obtained by The Harvard Crimson.

Her once-prominent career came crashing down following allegations that she falsified data in various behavioral science studies, including ones that were centered on honesty.

The university revoked Gino’s tenure and terminated her employment, marking the first time in decades that such a step has been taken against a tenured faculty member. 

Her ouster came after a lengthy internal investigation found evidence of academic misconduct in research spanning more than a decade.

The revelation fueled fresh outrage as the Ivy League institution reels from a rapidly escalating political showdown with the Trump administration, which has moved to cancel $100 million in federal contracts and slash billions more in grants.

In a separate conflict, the Trump administration has moved to cancel roughly $100 million in federal contracts with Harvard and is threatening to divert another $3 billion in grants.

Trump has accused the school of promoting antisemitism, resisting oversight, and harboring ‘radicalized lunatics’ among its foreign student population.

Taken together, the Gino scandal and the funding fight have thrown the university into turmoil – exposing deep tensions over accountability, integrity, and power at one of America’s most elite institutions.

Gino’s fall from grace began quietly in 2021, when anonymous researchers and the whistleblower blog Data Colada published explosive allegations that Gino had falsified data in several published studies – including one ironically focused on dishonesty. 

The blog’s meticulous analysis and documentation sparked alarm throughout the academic world.

‘In 2021, we and a team of anonymous researchers examined a number of studies co-authored by Gino, because we had concerns that they contained fraudulent data,’ Data Colada wrote. 

‘We discovered evidence of fraud in papers spanning over a decade, including papers published quite recently (in 2020).’

Harvard Business School responded with an 18-month internal investigation, eventually concluding that Gino had engaged in academic misconduct. 

By mid-2023, she was placed on unpaid administrative leave, stripped of her named professorship, and barred from campus.

But what stunned even longtime faculty members was what came next with the formal revocation of her tenure, a punishment so rare that it had not occurred at Harvard since at least the 1940s.

Gino has strenuously denied the allegations. 

In September 2023, she launched a $25 million lawsuit against Harvard, its business school dean Srikant Datar, and the Data Colada bloggers, Leif D. Nelson, Uri Simonsohn, and Joseph P. Simmons, accusing them of conspiracy, defamation, and violating her contractual rights.

In a defiant post on her personal website Gino wrote: ‘I did not commit academic fraud. I did not manipulate data to produce a particular result. I did not falsify data to bolster any result. I did not commit the offense I am accused of. Period.’

Though a federal judge dismissed parts of her suit in September 2024, he allowed claims of contract violations and discrimination to move forward. 

Gino has since added Title VII claims to her case, accusing the university of targeting her unfairly with policies that were, she alleges, crafted specifically to punish her.

‘It has been shattering to watch my career being decimated and my reputation completely destroyed,’ she wrote in October. ‘I am fighting not only for my name but for fairness in academia.’

As Gino’s saga unfolded, it collided with a much larger storm – a full-blown assault on Harvard by President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House in January 2025 and immediately began targeting the Ivy League school as ‘a nest of left-wing extremism, antisemitism, and corruption.’

Earlier this week, the Trump administration took aim at $100 million in federal contracts awarded to Harvard, instructing agencies to cancel all agreements and seek ‘alternate vendors.’ 

The move follows the administration’s earlier decision to cancel more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants to the university.

‘We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,’ Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning. 

‘Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason! The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!) – But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!’, he added.

Although Harvard has complied with some requests from the Department of Homeland Security, the administration said the school’s response was insufficient and attempted to revoke its ability to enroll foreign students – a move that was temporarily blocked in federal court after Harvard filed suit.

International students are now caught in a kind of legal purgatory, unsure whether they’ll be allowed to return in the fall. 

‘What the international students are caught in right now is just a limbo,’ said Leo Gerdén, a graduating senior from Sweden. ‘It’s terrifying.’

The Gino scandal has only fueled the administration’s argument that Harvard is mismanaged, elitist, and ethically compromised.

Harvard has long positioned itself as the gold standard in American higher education, a beacon of integrity and academic rigor. 

The simultaneous collapse of one of its star professors and the unraveling of its federal funding agreements has left the institution reeling.

At a rally outside Harvard Yard this week, math and economics student Jacob Miller – former president of Harvard Hillel – condemned the administration’s pressure campaign. 

‘Antisemitism is a real problem,’ he said. ‘But these policies will do nothing to solve it. They’re about control, not protection.’

The chaos has also triggered an international response. 

Japan’s education minister, Toshiko Abe, said her government is working to help displaced Harvard students, and Tokyo University is exploring whether it can temporarily absorb some of them. Universities in Hong Kong and across Europe have also offered refuge.