Min worked at Delaware based chemicals giant DuPont for over a decade before he surreptitiously took a job at DuPont competitor, Victrex. Over a four month period after accepting that offer, and before informing DuPont of his decision, Min systematically copied thousands of pages of confidential DuPont design documents to a laptop. DuPont became aware of Min’s theft only after the employee gave notice. An analysis of recent network activity revealed that Min, who worked in a group developing high speed film, had downloaded tens of thousands of documents from DuPont’s Electronic Data Library (EDL) server. A subsequent raid of the researcher’s home uncovered more confidential company documents on other computers and bags of shredded DuPont technical documents. Min pled guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2007 and ordered to pay close to $50,000 in restitution to DuPont. The value of the information Min stole was put at $400 million, though its not clear whether he passed on any stolen information to DuPont competitors.
Yonggang “Gary” Min (DuPont)
Min worked at Delaware based chemicals giant DuPont for over a decade before he surreptitiously took a job at DuPont competitor, Victrex. Over a four month period after accepting that offer, and before informing DuPont of his decision, Min systematically copied thousands of pages of confidential DuPont design documents to a laptop. DuPont became aware of Min’s theft only after the employee gave notice.
