{"id":56685,"date":"2024-06-13T15:27:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T22:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=56685"},"modified":"2024-06-13T15:27:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T22:27:47","slug":"canadian-living-in-china-plead-guilty-to-stealing-electric-vehicle-trade-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=56685","title":{"rendered":"Canadian, Living in China, Plead Guilty to Stealing Electric Vehicle Trade Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Justice<\/p>\n

Klaus Pflugbeil, 58, a Canadian living in China, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets from a leading U.S. electric vehicle company (Victim Company). <\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil and his co-defendant, Yilong Shao, who is still at large, own a China-based business (Business-1) that sells battery-making technology. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil, a former employee of a business that an unnamed Victim Company acquired, stole trade secrets and used them to create Business-1, promoting it as a replacement for Victim Company’s goods.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPflugbeil stole sensitive technology and took it to China, seeking an illegal advantage,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division. <\/span><\/p>\n

Court documents show that Victim Company is a leading U.S. manufacturer of electric vehicles and battery energy systems. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to federal officials, this is what happened:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MalletIn 2019, it acquired a Canadian manufacturer of precision dispensing pumps and battery assembly lines (the Canadian Manufacturer), which used a proprietary technology now owned by Victim Company. <\/span><\/p>\n

This technology gave Victim Company a competitive edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil and Shao, former employees of the Canadian manufacturer, planned to use Victim Company’s trade secrets for their business by 2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Pflugbeil had many original documents and sought more drawings of the trade secrets, while Shao confirmed they had all the original assembly drawings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"LaThe conspirators tried to hide their theft. Pflugbeil created a document based on a stolen one, saying it looked original and not like a copy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In July 2020, Pflugbeil joined Business-1, established by Shao, which expanded to China, Canada, Germany, and Brazil. Business-1 makes the same products as the Canadian Manufacturer and was marketed as an alternative source for Victim Company’s products, with ads on Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil’s Google ads for Business-1 promoted their products as replacements for the Canadian Manufacturer’s parts and were shown tens of thousands of times weekly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil also sent LinkedIn messages saying, \u201cHello [name], I used to work at [Canadian Manufacturer], and after [Victim Company] purchased and closed the company, I am now part of a company providing similar products and services.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"a<\/a><\/p>\n

On September 11, 2023, undercover FBI agents attended a packaging and processing trade show in Las Vegas, posing as businesspeople interested in buying a battery assembly line from Business-1 for a facility in Long Island, New York. <\/span><\/p>\n

They met Shao at the trade show and were later introduced to Pflugbeil via email.<\/span><\/p>\n

On November 17, 2023, Pflugbeil emailed an undercover agent a detailed 66-page technical proposal. <\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal, labeled as containing “Business-1 proprietary information,” actually included trade secrets belonging to Victim Company. <\/span><\/p>\n

Several drawings in the proposal were Victim Company’s proprietary information related to their Battery Assembly Trade Secret.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pflugbeil pleaded guilty to conspiring to send trade secrets. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 9 and faces up to 10 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI is investigating the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Klaus Pflugbeil, 58, a Canadian living in China, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets from a leading U.S. electric vehicle company (Victim Company). Pflugbeil and his co-defendant, Yilong Shao, who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCanadian, Living in China, Plead Guilty to Stealing Electric Vehicle Trade Secrets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Klaus Pflugbeil, 58, a Canadian living in China, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets from a leading U.S. electric vehicle company (Victim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=56685\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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