Two engineers from China who pleaded guilty to the rare charge of economic espionage against the U.S. were finally sentenced on Nov. 21, 2008, in a case that highlights national security threats surrounding sensitive technologies.
Fei Ye, a U.S. citizen, and Ming Zhong, a
permanent resident of the U.S., admitted in 2006 that they stole
computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and tried to
smuggle the secrets to China to launch a government-backed startup
there.
Their guilty pleas
represented the first convictions for the most serious crime under the
Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Unlike garden-variety industrial
espionage -- the theft of a trade secret -- economic espionage alleges
that someone acted to benefit a foreign government. MORE
DOJ Press Release on the indicment
DOJ Press Release on the guilty plea / conviction
