Overview
- A federal jury in Rochester convicted Ji Wang, 63, of two counts of economic espionage, theft of trade secrets, attempted economic espionage, and attempted theft of trade secrets.
- Prosecutors said he stole hundreds of non-public files on July 1, 2016 from a DARPA–Corning project aimed at developing high-powered fiber-laser technology.
- The DARPA-Corning effort sought a more than 1,000-fold power increase for fiber lasers with potential uses including countering drones and missiles.
- He applied to China’s Thousand Talents Plan 10 days before the theft, was selected two months later, and from 2014 to 2017 sought tens of millions from Chinese government entities to launch a specialty fiber venture that touted military applications, including installation on tanks.
- The FBI, the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement, and Homeland Security Investigations led the probe and say they disrupted the scheme before launch; the offenses carry maximum prison terms of up to 15 years for economic espionage and 10 years for trade-secrets theft.