{"id":49738,"date":"2022-05-10T10:34:47","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T17:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49738"},"modified":"2022-05-10T10:35:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T17:35:49","slug":"chemist-sentenced-for-stealing-trade-secrets-economic-espionage-and-wire-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49738","title":{"rendered":"Chemist Sentenced to 14 Years for Stealing Trade Secrets, Economic Espionage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A federal judge in Greeneville, Tennessee, sentenced a Michigan woman Tuesday to 14 years in prison for a scheme to steal trade secrets, engage in economic espionage and commit fraud, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendant was also ordered to pay a $200,000 fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n
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In April 2021, following a 13-day jury trial, Xiaorong You, aka Shannon You, 59, of Lansing, Michigan, was convicted of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, conspiracy to commit economic espionage, possession of stolen trade secrets, economic espionage and wire fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs the evidence at trial showed, the defendant stole valuable trade secrets and intended to use them to benefit not only a foreign company, but also the government of China,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"tufted\u201cStealing trade secrets of U.S. companies for the benefit of the Chinese government will be vigorously prosecuted in the Eastern District of Tennessee, and today\u2019s 14-year sentence reflects the seriousness of this defendant\u2019s crimes,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStealing technology isn\u2019t just a crime against a company,\u201d said Acting Assistant Director Bradley S. Benavides of the FBI\u2019s Counterintelligence Division. \u201cIt\u2019s a crime against American workers whose jobs and livelihoods are impacted.”<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the evidence,\u00a0 You stole valuable trade secrets related to formulations for bisphenol-A-free (BPA-free) coatings for the inside of beverage cans. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"womanYou was granted access to the trade secrets while working at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, and Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee. <\/span><\/p>\n

The stolen trade secrets belonged to major chemical and coating companies including Akzo-Nobel, BASF, Dow Chemical, PPG, Toyochem, Sherwin Williams and Eastman Chemical Company, and cost nearly $120 million to develop.<\/span><\/p>\n

You stole the trade secrets to set up a new BPA-free coating company in China. You and her Chinese corporate partner, Weihai Jinhong Group, received millions of dollars in Chinese government grants to support the new company (including a Thousand Talents Plan award). <\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019s Thousand Talents Program application and other evidence presented at trial showed that she intended to benefit not only Weihai Jinhong Group, but also the governments of China, the Chinese province of Shandong, the Chinese city of Weihai and the Chinese Communist Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until recently, BPA was used to coat the inside of cans and other food and beverage containers to help minimize flavor loss and prevent the container from corroding or reacting with the food or beverage contained therein. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, due to BPA\u2019s potential health risks, companies began searching for BPA-free alternatives. Developing these BPA-free alternatives was a very expensive and time-consuming process.<\/span><\/p>\n

From December 2012 through August 2017, You was employed as Principal Engineer for Global Research at Coca-Cola, which had agreements with numerous companies to conduct research and development, testing, analysis and review of various BPA-free technologies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because of You\u2019s extensive education and experience with BPA and BPA-free coating technologies, she was one of a limited number of Coca-Cola employees with access to BPA-free trade secrets belonging to Akzo-Nobel, BASF, Dow Chemical, PPG, Toyochem and Sherwin Williams. <\/span><\/p>\n

From about September 2017 through June 2018, You was employed as a packaging application development manager for Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, where she was one of a limited number of employees with access to trade secrets belonging to Eastman, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI\u2019s Knoxville Field Office and HSI investigated the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Greeneville, Tennessee, sentenced a Michigan woman Tuesday to 14 years in prison for a scheme to steal trade secrets, engage in economic espionage and commit fraud, officials stated….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChemist Sentenced to 14 Years for Stealing Trade Secrets, Economic Espionage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge in Greeneville, Tennessee, sentenced a Michigan woman Tuesday to 14 years in prison for a scheme to steal trade secrets, engage in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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