US charges ex-Apple engineer with stealing trade secrets and fleeing to China

The US Justice Department has accused a Chinese national of stealing trade secrets from Apple, including information about driverless car technology, in one of five cases brought by a new task force focused on protecting critical technology from foreign governments. is included.

A federal court on Tuesday unsealed an indictment accusing a former Apple software engineer, Weibao Wang, of taking thousands of documents including research and development of technology for autonomous systems used in self-driving cars.

The DoJ alleged that while the engineer was working on a secret project for Apple, he also began working for a US-based subsidiary of a company headquartered in China that it said was self- Driving is developing cars.

Prosecutors said law enforcement officers searching his California residence in 2018 found a large amount of data that had been taken from Apple. Prosecutors said that night he flew to Guangzhou, China, despite telling agents that he was not planning to travel.

If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in jail for each of the six counts filed against him, along with a fine. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Wang could not be reached for comment.

The case is part of a string of lawsuits brought Tuesday by five different US attorneys’ offices for alleged crimes including export violations, smuggling and theft of trade secrets.

They represent the first examples of criminal charges brought by a DoJ and Commerce Department task force launched in February aimed at protecting American technology from hostile government actors.

“These charges demonstrate the Department of Justice’s commitment to preventing sensitive technology from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Russia, China and Iran,” Matthew Olson, assistant attorney-general for national security at the DoJ, said in a statement.

In a separate case announced Tuesday, another software engineer was arrested earlier this month on charges of stealing trade secrets from two California companies, including the source code for software used in “smart” manufacturing. was also involved. He was accused of demanding the sale of technology to several Chinese companies.

Another Chinese national was charged in a separate case with participating in a scheme aimed at providing Iran with materials used in the production of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles through a banned Chinese company. Prosecutors said the scheme was paid for through the US financial system.

Two other cases uncovered by US officials had links to Russia and led to arrests earlier this month. Nikolaos “Nikos” Bogonikolos, a Greek national, was arrested in Paris and faces extradition procedures after allegedly receiving sensitive technologies on behalf of the Russian government.

According to the indictment, he worked with companies that are part of what the US has dubbed the “Sarnia Network,” an illegal procurement cell operating on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services.

Earlier this month the Financial Times reported that companies linked to the Sarnia network continued to acquire goods from inside the European Union last year despite being the subject of US sanctions.

According to the US, the network operates on behalf of Russia’s FSB spy agency, including the Directorate for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, commonly known as “Directorate T”, to procure approved technology.

Other clients include the Kremlin’s foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR; state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec; Ministry of Defense of Russia; and Rosatom, the state nuclear power company in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Bogonikolos could not be reached for comment.

“Our office has accelerated our investigation and prosecution of sanctions and export violations in light of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” said Brion Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York who brought the case against the Greek defendants. .

Separately, two Russian citizens were arrested in the US for attempting to buy aircraft parts that prosecutors said were meant to be shipped to Russian airlines in violation of export controls and money laundering laws.

Additional reporting by Patrick Magee