A former Ford Motor Company engineer has been indicted on charges of theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to protected computers. Xiang Dong Yu, also known as Mike Yu, was arrested last week as he entered the country at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Yu worked as a Ford engineer from 1997 to 2007. He allegedly downloaded more than 4,000 documents from Ford computers while still employed by Ford. In December 2006, he accepted a position with Foxconn PCE Industry Inc. in China, but did not tell
Ford about his new job until January 2007. A year later, Yu allegedly used the stolen documents in another job search in China. He presently works for a Ford competitor in Beijing.
Yu was charged with theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of
trade secrets and unauthorized access to protected computers. Each of
the theft-related charges carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a
fine of up to $250,000. Yu faces a maximum of five years and $250,000
in fines on the charge of accessing a protected computer.
The arrest
was announced by Terrence Berg, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District
of Michigan.
