A former researcher at the University at Buffalo has been charged with multiple felonies in a complicated case that began in 2004 involving scientific misconduct.

Charges were filed Tuesday in Buffalo City Court against William Fals-Stewart, 48, of Eden.

The state Attorney General's office said the defendant hired professional actors to portray real people who were familiar with his projects to testify on his behalf during a formal misconduct hearing. Fals-Stewart, who was exonerated of the misconduct because of the false testimonies, then attempted to seek $4 million from the state for monetary damages.

"The charges in this case allege a pattern of lies and deceit that a public employee used to attempt to defraud New York's taxpayers of millions of dollars," said a statement from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In September 2004, while working at UB and its Research Institute on Addictions, Fals-Stewart was accused of scientific misconduct for allegedly fabricating data in federally funded studies. According to court papers, the allegations were based upon discrepancies between the number of volunteers he reported to the National Institute for Drug Addiction relating to grants for which Fals-Stewart was the principal investigator and the actual number of volunteers who participated in his studies.

During a subsequent investigation launched by UB, three witnesses testified by telephone because Fals-Stewart claimed they were out of town. In reality, they were actors who thought they were taking part in a mock trial.

Fals-Stewart paid the actors to testify, the AG's office says. He also provided them with scripts to use during the proceedings that were riddled with inaccuracies regarding his research, authorities said. Fals-Stewart told the three actors, whom he had hired before for legitimate training videos, that they would be performing in a mock-trial training exercise. They were not aware that they were testifying at a real administrative hearing, nor did they know they were impersonating real people. Based on those testimonies, Fals-Stewart was exonerated at the administrative hearing.

Claiming that the misconduct allegations tarnished his reputation, Fals-Stewart sued UB, seeking $4 million from the state in damages. That sparked an investigation by the Attorney General's office leading to the fraud charges. The AG's office said when it uncovered the alleged fraud, that forced Fals-Stewart to withdraw his lawsuit, and the office initiated a criminal investigation.

Fals-Stewart is facing counts of attempted grand larceny in the first degree, a class C felony; three counts of perjury in the first degree, a class D felony; three counts of identity theft in the first degree, a class D felony; two counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a class E felony; and three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a class E felony. The maximum permissible sentence for a class C felony is 15 years in prison.