14 DAY TRIAL // A Chinese national admitted to stealing trade secrets from Ford, when he left the automaker's employment and moved back to his home country in 2006.
Xiang Dong Yu, aka Mike Yu, 49, of Beijing, China, worked as a product engineer for Ford Motor Company between 1997 and 2007.
At the end of 2006, Yu agreed to work for another U.S. company at its branch in China. He traveled to Shenzen on December 20, without letting Ford of his intention to quit.
According to prosecutors, upon his departure, the product engineer copied 40 confidential documents from Ford's computer to an external hard disk drive, which he took with him.
The files contained design specifications for various automotive components including engine/transmission mounting subsystem, electrical distribution system, electric power supply, electrical subsystem and generic body module.
The stolen information was the result of multi-million dollar research, development and testing efforts that spanned decades. Ford's losses were estimated at between 50 and 100 million dollars.
In January 2007 Yu officially quit his job at Ford via email and in November 2008 he went on to work for one of its direct competitors, the Beijing Automotive Company.
Yu was indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan, after the U.S. automaker discovered the data theft and contacted the FBI.
On October 19, 2009, the former product engineer traveled back to the United States for business reasons and was arrested when he landed in Chicago.
Upon inspecting his company-issued laptop, investigators discovered 41 of the design specification documents stolen back in 2006. They also found evidence that all of them had been accessed in the previous months.
Yu pleaded guilty to two counts of trade secrets theft and is scheduled for sentencing on February 23 next year. He faces between 63 and 78 months in prison and a maximum fine of $150,000.