AP, 23 July 2010: A former General Motors engineer and her husband conspired to steal trade secrets about hybrid technology and use the information to make private deals with Chinese competitors, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

Shanshan Du and Yu Qin, both of Troy, were indicted on conspiracy, fraud and other charges. They had been under scrutiny for years and were charged in 2006 with destroying documents sought by investigators, a case that was dropped while a broader probe was pursued.

The indictment says Du, who was hired at GM in 2000, purposely sought a transfer in 2003 to get access to hybrid technology and began copying documents by the end of that year. In 2005, she copied thousands of documents, five days after getting a severance offer from the automaker, according to the indictment.

By that summer, Qin was telling people he had a deal to provide hybrid technology to Chery Automobile, a GM competitor in China, the indictment says. The couple had set up their own company, Millennium Technology International. . . . .

. . . . . Corken said GM learned about the alleged theft and called the FBI. GM estimates the value of the stolen information at $40 million. . . . .

Couple accused in GM tech theft (Detroit Free Press, 23 July 2010)
A Troy couple was arraigned in federal court Thursday on charges of conspiring to steal GM’s hybrid vehicle secrets to sell to a Chinese car company. . . . .After GM offered Du a buyout in January 2005, she copied thousands of pages of GM documents to a Millennium Technology external computer hard drive, prosecutors said. Afterward, Qin moved forward with a venture to provide hybrid technology to Chery Automobile, a GM competitor in China, prosecutors said.

In May 2006, the couple drove to a Dumpster behind a grocery store where Qin tossed plastic bags containing shredded documents that a federal grand jury had subpoenaed, authorities said.
They said the stolen documents, valued at more than $40 million by GM, never fell into Chinese hands. The couple are Chinese immigrants and naturalized U.S. citizens, authorities said. . . .

TWO CHARGED IN CONSPIRACY TO STEAL GM TRADE SECRETS (DOJ, 22 July 2010)

♦ CI CENTRE COURSE: 170–Economic Espionage and Theft of Technology