The FBI arrested a former Ford engineer who is charged with illegally copying documents, which he then provided to a Chinese company.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a former Ford Motor Co. engineer on charges of stealing secrets from the automaker and selling them to a Chinese supplier.
Xiang Dong, aka Mike Yu, 47, of Beijing, China, was charged in a five-count federal indictment with theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to a protected computer, Terrence Berg, US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said Thursday in announcing the charges, which followed an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yu was arrested on October 14, 2009 at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago after re-entering the United States following a visit to China.
Yu was a product engineer at Ford from 1997 to 2007 and he had access to Ford trade secrets, including Ford design documents. Yu left Ford for a job with the American subsidiary of a Chinese company, according to the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Detroit.
The indictment charges that on the eve of his departure from Ford and before he told Ford of his new job, Yu copied some 4,000 Ford documents onto an external hard drive, including sensitive Ford design documents.
The indictment alleges that Yu took Ford design documents to China in July 2005 in conjunction with his efforts to obtain employment with a Chinese company with an interest in the automotive industry.
The Chinese company was identified as Foxconn PCE Industry Inc., based in Shenzen, China, according to the federal complaint filed against Dong.
“Protecting the competitive edge technology of our companies through vigorous enforcement of our federal trade secret laws is a top priority of this office. Both employees and employers should be aware that stealing proprietary trade secrets to gain an economic advantage is a serious federal offense that will be prosecuted aggressively,” federal attorney Berg said.
“Michigan, as well as the rest of the United States, is significantly impacted by the auto industry. Theft of trade secrets is a threat to national security and investigating allegations involving theft of trade secrets is a priority for the FBI. The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue these cases,” said Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI.
The stolen Ford documents included system design specifications for the engine/transmission mounting subsystem, electrical distribution system, electric power supply, electrical subsystem and generic body module systems.
The theft of trade secrets has become one of the most critical issues for both American industry and for the U.S. government. Insiders say that, in a number of cases, such actions are not only accepted by foreign governments, such as China, but may be encouraged as part of national campaigns to expand competitiveness.