A former hybrid technology engineer at General Motors and her husband face prison time for industrial espionage.
Federal court jurors in Detroit convicted Shanshan Du and Yu Qin on Friday of stealing valuable trade secrets, Ed White of the Associated Press reports. The pair are U.S. citizens who were born in China.
In her closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen Corken said Du, 54, was the "linchpin" in the scheme because of her job at the automaker. . . .
Prosecutors told jurors that GM trade secrets were found on at least seven computers owned by the Oakland County couple. . . . Corken said the technology was worth at least $40 million, the price that other automakers paid GM to get it.
Qin, 51, had set up his own company, Millennium Technology International, and claimed to have made contact with GM competitors overseas. . . .
Du faces up to 10 years in prison, while her husband faces up to 30. No sentencing date has been set.
White quotes U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade as saying she hopes the case, which involved FBI surveillance, deters others from trying similar schemes.\
"We are committed to protecting Michigan's technology, and we hope that this prosecution will send a message that stealing proprietary information from an employer or competitor is a serious crime," McQuade said.
