The United States announced "charges in five cases related to alleged efforts to steal technology and transfer it to China, Russia, and Iran." Among these charges is one against a former Apple engineer who targeted the company's technology related to autonomous systems and then fled to China.
The cases detailed by the Department of Justice during a press conference focus on allegations related to the theft of trade secrets and other technologies. Matt Olsen, head of the National Security Division at the Department of Justice, emphasized to reporters the importance of enforcing U.S. laws to stop the flow of sensitive technologies to foreign adversaries, stating, "We are committed to doing everything we can to prevent these advanced tools from falling into the hands of foreign rivals."
The indictment issued in April against the former Apple engineer, revealed yesterday, identifies him as Wei Bao Wang, a 35-year-old who lived in Mountain View, California. Apple hired him in 2016.
In 2017, he took a position in the U.S. with a Chinese company developing self-driving cars before resigning from Apple, but he waited about four months before notifying the company of his new job, according to the indictment.
The Department of Justice noted that "after his last day at Apple, the company discovered he had accessed a large volume of data in the days leading up to his departure," adding that "federal agents searched his home in June 2018 and found 'large quantities' of data from Apple." It also pointed out that "shortly after the search was conducted, he boarded a flight to China." Apple declined to comment on the case.
