On March 24, 2005, a federal grand jury indicted Liou on 15 counts that charged him with conspiracy, receipt and possession of stolen trade secrets, wire fraud, illegal monetary transactions, and perjury.
Before talk of a Syrian connection, an article in the March issue of Arms Control Today by Siegfried Hecker and William Liou listed the many ways North Korea's nuclear expertise could be of use to Iran, which also has suspect nuclear ambitions.