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Former Employee Stole Ford Secrets Worth $50 Million

Posted by Soulskill on from the yu-did-it dept.

chicksdaddy writes "A ten year veteran of US automaker Ford pleaded guilty in federal court on November 17 to charges that he stole company secrets, including design documents, valued at between $50 million and $100 million, and shared them with his new employer: the Chinese division of a US rival of Ford's. Xiang Dong ('Mike') Yu admitted to copying some 4,000 Ford Documents to an external hard drive, including design specifications for key components of Ford automobiles, after surreptitiously taking a job with a China-based competitor in 2006. Yu, who took a job for Beijing Automotive Company in 2008, was arrested during a stopover at Chicago in October, 2009. The FBI seized his Beijing Automotive-issued laptop, and an analysis found 41 stolen Ford specification documents on the hard drive. He faces five to six years in prison and a $150,000 fine (PDF)."

7 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Wake up, people. by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    valued at between $50 million and $100 million

    That's probably an inflated value. When companies get burned like this, they generally vastly overstate the value of the stolen goods.

    and shared them with his new employer: the Chinese division of a US rival of Ford's.

    Hello boys and girls. Can you say "tip of the iceberg?" I knew you could.

    He faces five to six years in prison and a $150,000 fine (PDF).

    Good. And before we judge if that seems too harsh a punishment, I would ask if anyone knows what the Chinese government would do to an American engineer who did the same thing to a Chinese company.

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    1. Re:Wake up, people. by toastar · · Score: 5, Informative

      Good. And before we judge if that seems too harsh a punishment, I would ask if anyone knows what the Chinese government would do to an American engineer who did the same thing to a Chinese company.

      8 years

      http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/04/chinese-court-sentences-geologist-tortured-state-security-agents-years-jail-1624851947/

    2. Re:Wake up, people. by afidel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It could also be that the design docs were from the manufacturing process rather than the product itself. The process engineering behind a plant could easily be worth significantly more than even $100M because the plants today cost upwards of $1B to design, build, and furnish and the lifetime efficiency gains for a well engineered plant can also reach into the billions.

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    3. Re:Wake up, people. by wvmarle · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe not american, still accusation is theft of state secrets: 10 years prison.

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/rio-tintos-stern-hu-jailed-10-years/story-e6frg9df-1225847088979

  2. Does this mean all the Chinese cars are going to by pecosdave · · Score: 5, Funny

    have bad power steering pumps and short life torque converters from now on?

    (sorry, had to go there, the problems I've had to deal with on my own/families/friends Fords the most)

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  3. Pffft...amateur... by afabbro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Small potatoes

    "Lopez was head of purchasing for GM and defected abruptly to VW in 1993. GM accused Lopez of masterminding the theft of more than 20 boxes of documents on research, manufacturing and sales. The world's largest international corporate espionage case officially ended in 1997, when VW admitted no wrongdoing but settled the civil suit by agreeing to pay GM $100 million in cash and spend $1 billion on GM parts over seven years.

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  4. Re:Does this mean all the Chinese cars are going t by happyhamster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >>Europe (is it flamebait to say they are better because they are away from US unions?)

    Probably yes, because:

    1) Workers in good old Europe have stronger unions than the withering joke the U.S. has.

    2) European workers enjoy a terrific safety net which looks like the great wall of china compared to the spider web the U.S. wage slaves have. Never underestimate explosion of creativity in a geek who feels safe for economic future of his family.