Former GE worker jailed for conspiring to steal trade secrets for China

Washington — A former GE Power employee had been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to steal General Electric’s technology to benefit China, the US justice department said on Tuesday.

Xiaoqing Zheng of Niskayuna, New York, was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage following a four-week jury trial that ended in March last year, according to the department. US district judge Mae D’Agostino sentenced Zheng to two years in prison, a $7,500 fine and a year of post-imprisonment supervised release.

US officials have said the Chinese government poses the biggest long-term threat to US economic and national security, and is carrying out unprecedented efforts to steal critical technology from US businesses and researchers. China denies the allegations.

Zheng was employed at GE Power in Schenectady, New York, as an engineer specialising in turbine sealing technology. He worked at GE from 2008 until the summer of 2018, the  department said.

The trial evidence showed Zheng and others in China conspired to steal GE’s trade secrets surrounding its ground-based and aviation-based turbine technologies to benefit China, including China-based companies and universities that research and manufacture parts for turbines, the department added.

“This is a case of textbook economic espionage. Zheng exploited his position of trust, betrayed his employer and conspired with the government of China to steal innovative American technology,” said assistant attorney-general Matthew Olsen.

The US had accused the former GE engineer and another Chinese businessman named Zhaoxi Zhang in 2019 of stealing secrets and spying on GE to aid China. Zheng had pleaded not guilty at the time.

A US federal court in Cincinnati sentenced a Chinese national in November to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of plotting to steal trade secrets from several US aviation and aerospace companies.

Reuters