New York man arrested for stealing GE trade secrets
A New York individual was arrested yesterday in connection with a complaint accusing him of stealing trade secrets owned by multinational conglomerate GE.
The US Department of Justice named him as 55-year-old Xiaoqing Zheng of Niskayuna, New York State.
The announcement was made by assistant attorney general for national security, John Demers; US attorney for the Northern District of New York, Grant Jaquith; and acting special agent in charge, Charles Margiotta, of the FBI.
According to the criminal complaint, Zheng, who was a former engineer at GE, removed electronic files in early July that contained the company’s trade secrets involving its turbine technologies.
In particular, Zheng allegedly used steganography, a method of concealing files, to hide data belonging to GE in a picture of a sunset. It is believed that Zheng then sent the digital image containing the stolen data to his e-mail address.
Zheng appeared in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York yesterday, August 1, which was the same day as he was arrested. He was detained without bail.
If found guilty, Zheng could be sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison and fined up to $250,000.
The alleged breach comes after WIPR reported last week that almost three quarters of surveyed CEOs have admitted to taking IP from a former employer. The figure was part of a report released by US-based software company Code42.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today's top stories
Steve McQueen’s son tries to put brakes on Ferrari promotions
Beyoncé cracks down on fake merchandise amid tour with Jay-Z
