US accuses ex-Apple engineer of stealing trade secrets and fleeing to China

The US Department of Justice has charged a Chinese citizen with stealing trade secrets from Apple, including information about driverless car technology, in one of five cases brought by a new task force focused on protecting critical technology from foreign governments.

A federal court on Tuesday unsealed an indictment accusing Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, of taking thousands of documents, including research and development of technology for autonomous systems used in self-driving cars.

The DoJ alleged that while the engineer was working on a secret project for Apple, he also started working for a US-based subsidiary of a company headquartered in China, which it said was developing self-driving cars.

Law enforcement officers found large volumes of data that had been taken from Apple when they searched his California residence in 2018. He flew to Guangzhou, China, that night despite telling agents he did not plan to travel, prosecutors said.

If found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the six counts filed against him, as well as fines. Apple declined to comment, and Wang could not be reached for comment.

The case is part of a string of lawsuits brought by five separate US attorney’s offices on Tuesday for alleged crimes including export violations, smuggling and theft of trade secrets.

They represent the first instances of criminal charges brought by a task force from the DoJ and Department of Commerce launched in February with the aim of protecting US technology from hostile government actors.

“These charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment to preventing sensitive technology from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Russia, China and Iran,” Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney-general for national security at the DoJ, said in a statement.

In a separate case announced on Tuesday, another software engineer was arrested earlier this month for allegedly stealing trade secrets from two Californian companies, including source code for software used in “smart” manufacturing. He was accused of seeking to sell the technology to several Chinese companies.

Another Chinese national was charged in a different case with participating in a scheme aimed at providing Iran with materials used in the production of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles via a sanctioned Chinese company. The scheme’s payments were made through the US financial system, prosecutors said.

Two other cases unveiled by US authorities had ties to Russia and led to arrests earlier this month. A Greek national, Nikolaos “Nikos” Bogonikolos, was arrested in Paris and faces extradition procedures after allegedly acquiring sensitive technologies on behalf of the Russian government.

According to the indictment, he worked with companies that formed part of what the US has called the “Serniya Network”, an illicit procurement cell that worked on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services.

Earlier this month the Financial Times reported that companies connected to the Serniya Network continued to acquire items from inside the EU last year in spite of being the subject of US sanctions.

The network, according to the US, works on behalf of Russia’s FSB spy agency, including for its Directorate for Scientific and Technological Intelligence, commonly known as “Directorate T”, to procure sanctioned technology.

Other clients include the Kremlin’s Foreign Intelligence Service, known as the SVR; the state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec; Russia’s Ministry of Defence; and Rosatom, the state atomic energy company in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Bogonikolos could not be reached for comment.

“Our office has intensified our investigations and prosecutions of sanctions and export violations in light of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” said Breon Peace, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the case against the Greek defendant.

Separately, two Russian nationals were arrested in the US for attempting to purchase aircraft parts that prosecutors said were meant to be sent to Russian airlines in violation of export controls and money laundering laws.

Additional reporting by Patrick McGee