A former Chinese engineer and businessman have been accused of economic espionage and conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric to benefit China, according to an undisclosed indictment of the United States Department of Justice.
Xiaoqing Zheng, a former GE engineer, was previously indicted by the Department of Justice in August in connection with a suspected robbery.
The other accused is businessman Zhaoxi Zhang.
However, the indictment released on Tuesday (23) against former engineer Zhaoxi Zhang marks the first time that the US government formally claimed that the scheme was carried out to benefit China and that the Chinese government provided financial support to the contract.
According to the complaint, Zheng used his position at GE to steal various electronic files, including proprietary files, from gas and steam turbines, and shared those files with Zhang, who was in China.
The Justice Department accuses Zheng and Zhang of using GE's stolen trade secrets to advance their personal interests in two Chinese companies, identified as Liaoning Tianyi Aviation Technology and Nanjing Tianyi Avi Tech - two state-owned companies in Beijing.
In six counts of economic espionage and seven counts of stealing trade secrets, Zheng and Zhang face a maximum sentence of 25 years and a fine of up to $ 5.25 million. In addition, Zheng was charged with making false statements to the FBI, with a maximum sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $ 250,000.
