Chinese National Charged with Stealing Ford Trade Secrets
Xiang Dong Yu, aka Mike Yu of Beijing, was charged with theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to a protected computer.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Yu was a Product Engineer for the Ford Motor Company from 1997 to 2007 and had access to Ford trade secrets, including Ford design documents. In December 2006, Yu accepted a job at the China branch of a U.S. company.
The DOJ alleges that on the eve of his departure from Ford and before he told Ford of his new job, Yu copied about 4,000 Ford documents onto an external hard drive, including sensitive Ford design documents. Included in those documents were system design specifications. He reportedly took Ford design documents to China in July 2005 used stolen Ford documents to secure employment with a Chinese automotive company in 2008.
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