Two Former Eli Lilly Scientists Accused of Stealing $55 Million in Trade Secrets on Behalf of Chinese Pharmaceutical Company In Southern District of Indiana Indictment

In a year in which the United States has brought and prosecuted a series of high-profile criminal cases under the Economic Espionage Act (“EEA”), another one was recently added to the roll call in the Southern District of Indiana, this time against two former high-level scientists with pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly. 

On August 14, 2013, a grand jury in the Southern District of Indiana returned a superseding indictment against Guoqing Cao (“Cao”) and Shuyu “Dan” Li (“Li”), stemming from Cao and Li’s alleged multi-year plot to steal Eli Lilly trade secrets and transfer those secrets to one of Eli Lilly’s Chinese-based competitors, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd., located in Shanghai, China.  Cao and Li are accused—along with an unnamed former Lilly scientist, and current Hengrui official—with stealing nine separate trade secrets (relating to Lilly’s work on cardiovascular disease prevention, diabetes treatment, and cancer treatment) starting in 2011 and continuing until this year.  Cao and Li are both currently being held, awaiting a further hearing on their pretrial detention. 

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