LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury has indicted a Chinese national on five felony offenses stemming from a computer hacking scheme that involved the theft of trade secrets from American defense contractors, including The Boeing Company, which manufactures the C-17 military transport aircraft.
Su Bin – who also used the names “Stephen Su,” “Stephen Subin” and “Steven Subin” – was named in a five-count indictment returned Thursday.
Su is currently in custody in British Columbia, Canada, where he is being held as a result of an arrest warrant submitted by the United States. Su was previously charged in a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles, but the indictment is now the operative charging document, federal officials said.
The indictment alleges that Su, a 49-year-old businessman, worked with two unindicted co-conspirators based in China to infiltrate computer systems and obtain confidential information about military programs, including the C-17 transport aircraft, the F-22 fighter jet, and the F-35 fighter jet.
The indictment specifically alleges three charges related to unauthorized computer access, a conspiracy to illegally export defense articles and a conspiracy to steal trade secrets.
The charges carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Bin is presumed innocent until proven guilty.