Engineer admits stealing software for China exchange

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former software engineer for Chicago-based CME Group pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing computer code and other proprietary data for an electronic trading exchange in China, officials said.

The Justice Department said Chunlai Yang admitted that he downloaded more than 10,000 files containing CME computer source code from the operating systems of the Globex electronic trading platform.

Officials estimated the potential loss at between US$50 million (S$61.2 million) and US$100 million.

The Libertyville, Illinois man pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets. He had worked for CME Group for 11 years.