Trade Secret Theft Prosecution Cases In The News

During the past week, federal courts around the country have seen a handful of high profile pleas, convictions and sentencing in cases in which defendants are accused of stealing their former employer’s trade secrets. 

On May 7, 2012, Yuan Li, a former research scientist with Sanofi Aventis, who had pled guilty to one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1832 (the section of the Economic Espionage Act dealing with commercial economic espionage) in January 2012, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. In pleading guilty, Li, a Chinese national, admitted to stealing data on Sanofi’s compounds, including their chemical structures, and sending that data via email or through use of a thumb drive to her home computer. Li was also ordered to pay $131,000 in restitution damages to Sanofi.

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