Chinese automakers are often accused of stealing automotive designs, but in the case of one Ford employee, the charges are quite literal. A Ford employee was arrested earlier this week and booked on charges of stealing trade secrets for the Chinese.
Xiang Dong Yu – also known as Mike Yu – was arrested on Wednesday at Chicago O’Hare Airport on charges of theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to a protected computer, according to The Detroit News. Yu was detained as he tired to re-enter the country from China.
Although it remains unclear exactly what trade secrets Yu was allegedly feeding to the Chinese, he had plenty of access to Ford ’s files. Yu held the position of product engineer for Ford from 1997-2007. Expect to hear more on the subject in the coming days.
