New York man sentenced to 2 years’ jail for conspiring to steal GE secrets for China
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General Electric’s trade secrets were to be stolen to benefit China.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - A New York man was on Tuesday sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to steal General Electric’s trade secrets to benefit China, the United States Justice Department said.
Zheng Xiaoqing, 59, of Niskayuna, New York, was convicted of conspiracy to commit economic espionage following a four-week jury trial that ended in March 2022, according to the Justice Department.
US District Judge Mae D’Agostino also sentenced Zheng to pay a US$7,500 (S$10,000) fine and serve one year of post-imprisonment supervised release.
US officials have said that the Chinese government poses the biggest long-term threat to US economic and national security, and is carrying out unprecedented efforts to steal critical technology from US businesses and researchers.
China denies the allegations.
Zheng was employed at GE Power in Schenectady, New York, as an engineer specialising in turbine sealing technology. He worked at GE from 2008 until the summer of 2018, the Justice Department said.
The trial evidence showed that Zheng and others in China conspired to steal GE’s trade secrets surrounding its ground-based and aviation-based turbine technologies to benefit China, including China-based companies and universities that research and manufacture parts for turbines, the Justice Department added.
“This is a case of textbook economic espionage. Zheng exploited his position of trust, betrayed his employer and conspired with the government of China to steal innovative American technology,” said Assistant Attorney-General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s national security division.
The United States had accused the former GE engineer and another Chinese businessman named Zhang Zhaoxi in 2019 of stealing secrets and spying on GE to aid China. Zheng had pleaded not guilty at the time.
A US federal court in Cincinnati sentenced a Chinese national in November to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of plotting to steal trade secrets from several US aviation and aerospace companies. REUTERS
