Chinese National Pleads Guilty To Theft Of $1Bln In Trade Secrets - US Justice Department

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published November 13, 2019 | 03:00 AM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2019) A Chinese national has pleaded guilty to stealing $1 billion-worth of trade secrets from a US petroleum company that employed him, the Justice Department said in a release.

"Hongjin Tan, a 35 year old Chinese national and US legal permanent resident, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Federal court to committing theft of trade secrets from his employer, a US petroleum company," the release said on Tuesday.

"Tan pleaded guilty to theft of a trade secret, unauthorized transmission of a trade secret, and unauthorized possession of a trade secret.

The Justice Department said the stolen information concerned the manufacture of a "research and development downstream energy market product" that is worth more than $1 billion.