The United States on Tuesday announced charges in five cases involving alleged efforts to steal technology to benefit China, Russia and Iran including a former Apple engineer accused of targeting the company's technology on autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China.
The cases detailed at a Justice Department press conference
centred on allegations concerning the theft of trade secrets and other
technology. Two of the cases involved what U.S. officials called procurement
networks created to help Russia's military and intelligence services obtain
sensitive technology.
The five cases were the first announced by a U.S.
"strike force" formed in February in part to protect sensitive
technologies, though the investigations began before it was created.
"We stand vigilant in enforcing U.S. laws to stop the
flow of sensitive technologies to our foreign adversaries," Matt Olsen,
the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told
reporters. "We are committed to doing all we can to prevent these advanced
tools from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries."
The former Apple engineer, identified as 35-year-old Weibao
Wang, formerly resided in Mountain View, California, and was hired by Apple in
2016, according to an April indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
In 2017, he accepted a U.S.-based job with a Chinese company
working to develop self-driving cars before resigning from Apple, but waited
about four months before informing Apple of his new job, according to the
indictment.
After his last day at Apple, the company discovered that he
had accessed large amounts of proprietary data in the days before his
departure, the Justice Department said. Federal agents searched his home in
June 2018 and found "large quantities" of data from Apple, it added.
Shortly after the search, he boarded a plane to China, the department said.
Apple's automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have
proceeded unevenly since 2014, when the company started to design a vehicle from
scratch. A December report said Apple had postponed the car's planned launch to
2026. Reports filed with the state of California show Apple is testing vehicles
on the state's roads.
Apple declined to comment on the case.
In a second case related to China, U.S. prosecutors
announced charges against Liming Li, 64, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, for
allegedly stealing trade secrets from his California-based employers to build
his own competing business in China.
Apple's automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have
proceeded unevenly since 2014, when the company started to design a vehicle
from scratch. A December report said Apple had postponed the car's planned
launch to 2026. Reports filed with the state of California show Apple is
testing vehicles on the state's roads.
Apple declined to comment on the case.
In a second case related to China, U.S. prosecutors
announced charges against Liming Li, 64, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, for
allegedly stealing trade secrets from his California-based employers to build
his own competing business in China.
In addition, prosecutors in New York announced charges
against Xiangjiang Qiao, also known as Joe Hansen, 39, for allegedly using a
Chinese company that is the target of American sanctions to provide materials
used in the production of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.
Qiao and Wang remain at large in China, while the other four
defendants were arrested, U.S. officials said.
Attorneys for Patsulya and Besedin, who were arrested on May
11, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Li did
not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not determine
who is representing Bogonikolos. © Reuters