California Businessman Sentenced to 15 Years for Trade Secret Theft
Published: July 16, 2014
A California businessman, Walter Liew, was recently sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after being found guilty by a jury on charges of trade secret theft, economic espionage, witness tampering and making false statements. Mr. Liew, who had contracts with a Chinese company Pangang Group, was charged with stealing trade secrets from DuPont that included plans and information regarding a manufacturing plant. The prosecutors allege that Mr. Liew helped the Pangang Group obtain these trade secrets to develop a manufacturing plant in China that would produce titanium dioxide, a white pigment.
Mr. Liew’s prosecution is another example of ongoing efforts by U.S. prosecutors to deter China from engaging in economic espionage and trade secret theft. For more details about this case, please see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-10/man-gets-15-years-prison-for-stealing-dupont-secrets.html.