A conviction, a commercial relationship and a state connection answer different questions. Put two files alongside each other before drawing a pattern.
Choose two files. The initial view contrasts Sinovel with UMC and Fujian Jinhua.
No combined score or guilt by association. A case-level label can cover different outcomes for different defendants. Open the actor records before assigning a finding to a person or company. These are excerpts of the published files, not a fresh legal-status check.
A customer owing more than $800 million recruited the head of its supplier’s automation engineering department, obtained proprietary source code, and used compiled versions in turbines.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Corporate jury conviction on all charged counts; $1.5 million statutory maximum fine, negotiated restitution, additional victim payments, and probation imposed in 2018.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The public trial and sentencing records establish conduct by Sinovel and named employees, but the cited records do not establish direction by the PRC government.
The cited trial and sentencing materials do not establish that PRC officials directed or sponsored the scheme; this file therefore records no established state nexus.[S1]
The public sources reviewed here do not establish final case outcomes for each charged individual, so this file does not assign them an adjudicated outcome.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1][S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 6, 2018 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A Taiwan semiconductor company pleaded guilty to stealing a Micron trade secret during work connected to Fujian Jinhua. Four years later, the federal judge found Jinhua not guilty on every criminal count.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
UMC pleaded guilty in October 2020 to one count of possessing a stolen Micron trade secret and accepted a $60 million fine. On February 27, 2024, Fujian Jinhua was found not guilty on all counts after a bench trial.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
Fujian Jinhua is PRC state-owned and was UMC's technology partner, but Jinhua was acquitted of all criminal charges; UMC's plea cannot establish Jinhua's guilt.
The indictment's broader allegations against Jinhua did not produce a conviction; the court found the government's proof insufficient at trial.[S1][S3]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Feb 27, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A customer owing more than $800 million recruited the head of its supplier’s automation engineering department, obtained proprietary source code, and used compiled versions in turbines.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Corporate jury conviction on all charged counts; $1.5 million statutory maximum fine, negotiated restitution, additional victim payments, and probation imposed in 2018.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The public trial and sentencing records establish conduct by Sinovel and named employees, but the cited records do not establish direction by the PRC government.
The cited trial and sentencing materials do not establish that PRC officials directed or sponsored the scheme; this file therefore records no established state nexus.[S1]
The public sources reviewed here do not establish final case outcomes for each charged individual, so this file does not assign them an adjudicated outcome.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1][S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 6, 2018 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A Chinese Ministry of State Security officer recruited aviation employees through presentations and paid travel, then sought proprietary design-process information and access to a GE engineer’s company computer.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convicted on all counts in 2021; sentenced to 20 years in 2022; conviction and sentence affirmed in 2024; imprisonment commuted to time served on November 22, 2024, with the conviction left intact.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Trial and appellate records established that Xu was a deputy division director in China’s Ministry of State Security and acted to obtain aviation technology for the Chinese state.
The public record establishes the attempted acquisition of GE’s core fan-module trade secrets, but it does not quantify a completed GE technology transfer or a monetary loss caused by that attempted exchange.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Nov 22, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A consulting company recruited retired DuPont engineers, assembled protected titanium-dioxide plant knowledge, and contracted to transfer it to Pangang projects in China.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Core trade-secret and economic-espionage convictions survived appeal; Liew was resentenced to 144 months. The government dismissed the separate Pangang corporate prosecution with prejudice on July 13, 2026, without a corporate verdict.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Liew's surviving economic-espionage convictions required a jury finding that he intended or knew the conduct would benefit a foreign government, instrumentality, or agent. That finding does not convert the later-dismissed charges against Pangang into corporate convictions.
The public dismissal did not adjudicate the Pangang companies' factual innocence or liability; it ended the prosecution without a verdict, so this file assigns them no criminal finding.[S4]
Evidence foundation
The published Ninth Circuit opinion anchors the surviving convictions; later sources document resentencing and the separate Pangang dismissal.[S1][S3][S4]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 13, 2026 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Limited access at Coca-Cola and Eastman exposed a chemist to suppliers' protected formulas; she copied files to personal storage while pursuing a government-supported coatings business in China.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convictions affirmed in 2023; original 168-month sentence vacated and remanded. In 2024 the district court recalculated intended loss at $30.45 million; the reviewed public sources do not establish the final amended prison term.[S1][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
The affirmed economic-espionage convictions establish the required intent or knowledge that the conduct would benefit a foreign government, instrumentality, or agent; the appellate record also documents national and local Chinese government grants.
The reviewed public materials document the 2024 intended-loss ruling but not the final amended prison judgment; this file therefore does not present the original 168-month term as current.[S2][S3]
The nearly $120 million development-cost figure described at the first sentencing is not a finding of actual loss, and the appellate court rejected the original intended-loss calculation.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Sep 11, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Two former employees of a Canadian automation manufacturer built a China-based equipment company and offered a prospective buyer a proposal containing their former employer's proprietary drawings.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pflugbeil pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 months in prison in December 2024. Shao was charged but remained at large; this file assigns him no conviction.[S1]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The cited plea and sentencing materials establish a China-based competing business but do not establish PRC government direction, sponsorship, or control.
The victim company is anonymized in the court and Justice Department sources. Public reporting has named companies, but this file does not elevate that attribution into a court finding.[S1][S2]
Shao had not been adjudicated as of the sentencing release and is described only as a charged co-defendant.[S1]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1]
Record dates
Outcome: Dec 16, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
An engineer uploaded more than 2,000 pages of Google AI-infrastructure material to personal cloud storage while pursuing senior roles, investors, and a startup in China.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Seven trade-secret-theft convictions remain. Seven economic-espionage verdicts were set aside on August 20, 2026. On September 1 he was sentenced to 12 months minus one day in prison and two years of supervised release. The September 8 written judgment orders $189,098.01 restitution, a $2,500 fine and a $700 assessment.[S4][S5]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The trial judge found the evidence insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ding intended or knew his conduct would benefit the Chinese government. The surviving theft convictions establish benefit to Ding and a China-based venture, not a state nexus.
This review verifies the written sentence, not a completed prison term or collected restitution. Any later appeal, stay, amended judgment or change to the surrender instruction requires a subsequent court record.[S5]
The original Justice Department release described all fourteen jury verdicts, but the later court ruling controls this file's current status and eliminates the economic-espionage findings.[S1][S4]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2][S4][S5]
Record dates
Outcome: Sep 1, 2026 Last editorial review: Sep 9, 2026
A bench trial found that Hao Zhang and collaborators moved radio-frequency filter know-how from Avago and Skyworks into a Tianjin University-linked manufacturing venture.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convicted after a four-day bench trial; sentenced in 2020 to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $476,835 in restitution, and forfeiture of patents obtained with stolen Avago technology.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
The trial judge found that Zhang knew the China-based business would benefit PRC instrumentalities, including Tianjin University. That adjudicated finding applies to Zhang's conduct; it should not be generalized to every person or institution named in the original indictment.
The 2015 announcement charged six people, but this file treats only Zhang's later conviction as adjudicated and does not assign his outcome to the other defendants.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1][S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Aug 31, 2020 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Hytera admitted that it hired Motorola personnel, directed the removal of proprietary digital-mobile-radio material, and used the information to develop competing products at a fraction of Motorola's development cost.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Hytera pleaded guilty in 2025 and was sentenced in March 2026 to a $50 million fine and five years of probation with compliance and reporting conditions. The judge found $214 million in lost profits; restitution was fully offset by prior civil-judgment payments.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The criminal judgment establishes corporate trade-secret theft by China-based Hytera. The cited plea and sentencing record does not establish that the PRC government directed or supported the conspiracy.
The cited criminal record does not establish PRC government direction or support; corporate location and nationality are not substitutes for that evidence.[S1][S2]
Proceedings for the individual defendants were not all complete at review; six remained subject to warrants and Kok awaited sentencing in the March 2026 account.[S1]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Mar 5, 2026 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
T-Mobile admitted Huawei engineers to a protected test lab under nondisclosure agreements. A civil jury later found trade-secret misappropriation, while a related federal criminal prosecution remains unresolved.
Evidence status
Disputed or developing
Material facts or procedural outcomes remain contested, incomplete, or actively changing.
Documented legal outcome
A 2017 civil jury found misappropriation and contract liability but awarded zero trade-secret damages and found no willful or malicious conduct; the $4.8 million award arose from contract claims. The parties later reported a settlement, and the civil claims were dismissed with prejudice on January 2, 2018. The separate federal criminal allegations remained unadjudicated in the court's July 21, 2026 pretrial order.[S1][S5][S6]
State connection — a separate question
Unknown / insufficient public evidence
The cited Tappy civil judgment and criminal indictment concern Huawei corporate conduct. They do not establish that the PRC government directed the Tappy activity; the criminal allegations were still pending and nationality is not evidence of state control.
The 2019 criminal indictment is an accusation, not evidence of guilt. Huawei pleaded not guilty, and the prosecution had not reached a verdict at review.[S2][S5]
The civil verdict established misappropriation but rejected trade-secret damages and willfulness; it cannot be summarized accurately as a $4.8 million trade-secret award.[S1][S3]
Evidence foundation
A charging, procedural, or official-attribution record anchors this unresolved file; allegations are not presented as findings of guilt.[S2][S5]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 21, 2026 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A married research team used long-term laboratory access to take exosome-isolation methods, establish a company in China, seek government support, and sell products and services built from the hospital’s work.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Both pleaded guilty; Chen received 30 months and Zhou 33 months in prison, with joint restitution of $2,616,087 and forfeiture orders. Federal civil orders revoked both naturalizations in March 2026.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
Court and plea materials document benefits and funding connected to Chinese government programs, but the cited record does not establish that the theft was directed by the PRC state.
Public records document funding and benefits associated with Chinese government programs, but do not prove that a PRC agency ordered or managed the underlying theft.[S1][S5]
Because the 2026 denaturalization orders were recent when this file was reviewed, later civil appellate activity may require an update.[S5]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Mar 30, 2026 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Yu Xue copied roughly 200 GSK documents concerning products, research, and manufacturing and sent them to collaborators at Renopharma, a China-based company she helped create.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Xue and Li each pleaded guilty to one conspiracy count. Xue received eight months in prison and Li 59 days. The district court assigned $0 actual and intended pecuniary loss for the sentencing enhancement, and the Third Circuit affirmed in 2022.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
Public records state that Renopharma received financial support and subsidies from the Chinese government. The cited adjudications do not establish that a PRC agency directed the theft, so support is recorded separately from operational control.
A Pioneer field manager found a stranger on his knees in an Iowa research plot, digging up corn. The license plate he recorded helped expose Mo Hailong's five-year effort to carry proprietary parent seed from Midwestern fields to a Chinese seed conglomerate.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty in January 2016; sentenced in October 2016 to 36 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The court also ordered forfeiture of two farms used in the conspiracy.[S1][S3]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The plea establishes a scheme to benefit Mo's employer, Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group, and its seed business. The cited adjudicated record does not establish PRC government direction or support.
The cited record establishes DBN as intended beneficiary but does not establish PRC state direction, funding, or operational control.[S1]
Pioneer's estimate of five to eight years and at least $30 million appears in a criminal-complaint account, not as the sentencing court's loss finding.[S2]
Evidence foundation
The signed plea agreement anchors the admitted conspiracy; official summaries supply the later sentence and operational context.[S1][S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Oct 5, 2016 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
The day after leaving Monsanto and The Climate Corporation, Haitao Xiang arrived at an airport with copies of a proprietary predictive farming algorithm and a one-way ticket to China.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty in January 2022 to conspiracy to commit economic espionage; sentenced in April 2022 to 29 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $150,000 fine.[S1][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Xiang admitted conspiring to steal the trade secret for the benefit of a foreign government, the PRC. The plea-based economic-espionage conviction establishes the state-benefit element for this case.
The public sentencing summary does not quantify realized commercial use or a monetary loss attributable to the copied algorithm.[S1]
The initial indictment included broader counts and talent-plan allegations; this file relies on the narrower offense Xiang actually admitted for its findings.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The appellate opinion anchors the conviction and state-benefit element; official summaries provide chronology and context.[S1][S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Apr 7, 2022 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Su Bin used his aerospace knowledge to identify targets, select files, translate stolen material, and help turn intrusions into reports for a People's Liberation Army department.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty in March 2016 to conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to protected computers and violate the Arms Export Control Act; sentenced in July 2016 to 46 months in federal prison.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Su's plea admitted collaboration with People's Liberation Army Air Force hackers and reporting to the Second Department of the PLA General Staff Headquarters. The state nexus is direct and adjudicated.
The cited plea and sentencing record identify C-17 and fighter-aircraft data but do not publish a complete inventory of every contractor, file, or downstream military use.[S1][S2]
Su also admitted seeking financial gain; state benefit and personal profit can coexist and should not be treated as mutually exclusive explanations.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 13, 2016 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Foreign train makers accepted joint ventures and broad technology transfer to enter China's vast rail buildout. The contracts demonstrably expanded local production; a later U.S. commission assessed that sector-wide transfer helped cultivate CRRC as a state-owned competitor.
Evidence status
Lawful but strategically harmful
The transfer or learning was permitted or contractual; later competitive or strategic consequences are documented or explicitly attributed.
Documented legal outcome
No criminal or civil wrongdoing is alleged here. The documented conduct consists of commercial contracts, joint ventures, technology transfer, localization policy, and their strategic consequences.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
China's Ministry of Railways awarded the underlying order, domestic partners were state-linked rail manufacturers, and the resulting CRRC is state-owned. The nexus is structural and documented, not inferred from nationality.
The sources support a lawful, contract-based technology-transfer case; they do not support labeling Kawasaki's disclosed transfer or the Chinese partner's receipt as criminal theft.[S1][S2][S3]
China's rail capability reflects scale, infrastructure investment, domestic engineering, policy, and multiple foreign suppliers; no single contract explains the full outcome.[S1][S2][S3]
Evidence foundation
Direct public records and attributed analysis jointly support this dossier; each claim retains its own evidence label.[S1][S2][S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Nov 14, 2025 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Kexue Huang held trusted biotechnology roles at two major agricultural companies. He admitted taking protected research from both employers, sending Dow material to collaborators in China and Germany and giving a Cargill secret to a Chinese university student.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty to economic espionage and theft of trade secrets; sentenced on December 21, 2011, to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Huang admitted that the unauthorized Dow research benefited universities tied to the PRC and that he took steps toward producing the technology in China.
The public releases identify PRC-linked universities but do not describe every recipient, research output, or commercial product created from the material.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1][S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Dec 21, 2011 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Dongfan “Greg” Chung built a long aerospace career at Rockwell and Boeing while collecting technical material for contacts in China. Investigators ultimately recovered more than 250,000 pages from his home.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convicted after a 2009 bench trial of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, six counts of economic espionage, acting as an agent of the PRC, and making false statements; sentenced on February 8, 2010, to 188 months in prison.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
The convictions established that Chung acted as a PRC agent and took aerospace trade secrets for the benefit of the PRC.
Xiaoqing Zheng used steganography to conceal GE turbine files inside the binary code of an ordinary-looking sunset image, then emailed the image to himself. A jury convicted him of conspiring to commit economic espionage.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convicted in March 2022 of conspiracy to commit economic espionage; acquitted on four other counts while the jury did not reach verdicts on seven. Sentenced on January 3, 2023, to 24 months in prison, a $7,500 fine, and one year of supervised release.[S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
The conspiracy conviction established an intent to benefit the PRC and foreign instrumentalities; it does not convert acquitted or unresolved counts into proven conduct.
The day before resigning from Phillips 66, Hongjin Tan copied hundreds of research files to a thumb drive. Investigators found deleted copies and a second drive containing battery-development material.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty to theft of a trade secret and unauthorized possession of a trade secret; sentenced on February 27, 2020, to 24 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $150,000 restitution.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
Tan had accepted a position with a China-based company, but destination and employment do not establish a PRC-state nexus. His convictions did not establish economic espionage, government direction, funding, or support.
Jiaqiang Xu left a China-based software role with a complete copy of proprietary clustered-file-system source code. He modified it to conceal its origin, then demonstrated and offered the derivative software to undercover buyers.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty to all six charged counts—three economic-espionage counts and three trade-secret theft, possession, or distribution counts—and was sentenced on January 18, 2018, to five years in prison.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Xu admitted that he intended the stolen code to benefit the PRC National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The court materials identify the victim as an unnamed U.S. company; IBM is the employer identified by Reuters through Xu's public employment profile.[S2][S3]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S1][S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Jan 18, 2018 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
While seeking work at a state-run Chinese institute, Yu Long used sensitive United Technologies material to support his application, carried a drive of documents to China, and retained controlled military-engine records.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Pleaded guilty in December 2016 to conspiracy to steal trade secrets for foreign-government benefit and an Arms Export Control Act offense; sentenced in May 2017 to time served after approximately 30 months in custody.[S1][S2]
State connection — a separate question
Court-established or admitted
Long admitted the foreign-government or foreign-instrumentality benefit element; the receiving institutions were state-run Chinese research bodies.
A Taiwan semiconductor company pleaded guilty to stealing a Micron trade secret during work connected to Fujian Jinhua. Four years later, the federal judge found Jinhua not guilty on every criminal count.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
UMC pleaded guilty in October 2020 to one count of possessing a stolen Micron trade secret and accepted a $60 million fine. On February 27, 2024, Fujian Jinhua was found not guilty on all counts after a bench trial.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
Fujian Jinhua is PRC state-owned and was UMC's technology partner, but Jinhua was acquitted of all criminal charges; UMC's plea cannot establish Jinhua's guilt.
The indictment's broader allegations against Jinhua did not produce a conviction; the court found the government's proof insufficient at trial.[S1][S3]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Feb 27, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Airport officers found biological research vials hidden in a sock before a China-bound flight, but Zaosong Zheng’s only conviction was for lying to federal officers about carrying research material.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Zheng pleaded guilty only to one false-statements count. He was sentenced on January 6, 2021 to time served (approximately 87 days), three years of supervised release, and removal from the United States; he was not convicted of smuggling or trade-secret theft.[S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Unknown / insufficient public evidence
The intended destination was Zheng’s own laboratory in China, but the cited record establishes no PRC government direction, sponsor, or beneficiary. Destination and nationality alone are not a state nexus.
The public records do not reconcile how the vials were acquired. A court order recounting the initial allegations says Zheng admitted stealing eight and replicating the others without BIDMC’s knowledge; the Justice Department’s plea release later says 21 were stolen, while its sentencing release says 19.[S2][S3][S4]
The public sources do not assign a monetary value, trade-secret status, or documented downstream research use to the intercepted material.[S1][S2][S3]
No cited source establishes that a PRC agency, program, university, or other state-linked institution directed or would have benefited from the conduct.[S2][S3]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S2][S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Jan 6, 2021 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A University of Tennessee professor and defense-project consultant was convicted after allowing unlicensed foreign-national access and carrying controlled military research to China, despite contract language and direct compliance warnings.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
A jury convicted Roth of one count of conspiracy, 15 counts of exporting defense articles and services without a license, and one count of wire fraud. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison and two years of supervised release; the Sixth Circuit affirmed all convictions on January 5, 2011.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The record documents exports to foreign nationals and Roth’s trip to China but establishes no PRC government direction, sponsorship, or beneficiary. Citizenship and destination are not treated as proof of a state nexus.
The cited record does not establish that the PRC government directed, sponsored, received, or benefited from Roth’s exports; a trip to China and a student’s citizenship do not establish a state nexus.[S1][S2][S3]
The appellate court expressly says no one accessed the electronic files on Roth’s flash drive or laptop in China. The record reviewed here does not quantify any downstream Chinese use of the physically carried material.[S1]
Dai and Nourgostar were not defendants in Roth’s case, and the opinion does not characterize either student as a thief, spy, or foreign-government agent.[S1]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S1]
Record dates
Outcome: Jan 5, 2011 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
A certified 2021 federal indictment, U.S. cyber advisories, and allied attribution statements linked a multiyear intrusion campaign to officers of the Hainan State Security Department and a contractor front company. The defendants remain accused, not convicted.
Evidence status
Officially alleged or attributed
A public charge, complaint, sanction, or named government attribution that has not been finally adjudicated.
Documented legal outcome
Four defendants were indicted in 2021. The cited public record does not report convictions or trial judgments; the allegations remain unadjudicated and the defendants are presumed innocent.[S3][S5]
State connection — a separate question
Officially attributed
U.S. authorities officially attributed the operation to the Hainan State Security Department, a provincial arm of the PRC Ministry of State Security.
The charges have not been adjudicated in the cited record; the named defendants are presumed innocent and the alleged victim counts and objectives have not been tested at trial.[S3][S5]
Evidence foundation
A charging, procedural, or official-attribution record anchors this unresolved file; allegations are not presented as findings of guilt.[S2][S5][S6]
Record dates
Outcome: Jul 19, 2021 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Shan Shi's Houston company hired former and current Trelleborg personnel, collected recipes and process information, and supplied a China-based partner with the know-how needed to make a specialized buoyancy material.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Convicted in July 2019 of conspiracy to steal trade secrets and acquitted of economic espionage and money laundering; sentenced in February 2020 to 16 months in prison and more than $330,000 in forfeiture. The D.C. Circuit affirmed the conviction in March 2021.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
Documented affiliation or support
The record documents China-based corporate and government-linked funding and prospective users, but the jury acquitted Shi of economic espionage; no foreign-government-benefit conviction is claimed.
The public record does not establish full-scale production or quantify the final competitive harm; prosecutors said the operation was interrupted before complete mass-production capability was secured.[S2][S3]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Mar 23, 2021 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
Days after accepting a severance offer, General Motors engineer Shanshan Du copied thousands of files, including hybrid-motor source code and schematics. She and her husband then pursued a business relationship with Chery Automobile.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Both defendants were convicted in November 2012 of trade-secret conspiracy and unauthorized possession. Qin was convicted on all counts, including wire fraud and obstruction; Du was acquitted of wire fraud. Qin received 36 months and Du 12 months plus one day; the Sixth Circuit affirmed in June 2014.[S3]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The venture pursued business with Chery Automobile, but the cited adjudicated record does not establish PRC government direction or support.
GM estimated the stolen documents at more than $40 million, but that figure is a company estimate and not restated as the court's loss calculation.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Jun 26, 2014 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
An Apple engineer admitted one federal trade-secret-theft count after an internal review found unusual downloads before his resignation, but the sealed plea leaves important transfer and beneficiary questions unanswered.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Zhang pleaded guilty to Count One of the indictment, theft of trade secrets under 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(1). On February 5, 2024, the court sentenced him to 120 days in prison and three years of supervised release, imposed a $100 special assessment and no fine, and ordered $146,984 in restitution.[S1][S2][S3]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The cited public record establishes neither PRC state direction nor a state beneficiary. Intended employment at a China-headquartered company and travel to China do not, by themselves, establish a government nexus.
The plea agreement is sealed, so the public minutes establish the offense and count but do not disclose which charging allegations Zhang admitted as the factual basis for his plea.[S1][S2]
The cited sources contain no finding that X-Motors directed the conduct, received Apple information, or used it in a vehicle program.[S1][S2][S3]
No cited source establishes PRC government direction, sponsorship, or receipt of the material.[S1][S2][S3]
Evidence foundation
A linked judgment, opinion, verdict, or signed plea anchors the adjudicated posture; source notes distinguish any remaining allegations.[S2][S3]
Record dates
Outcome: Feb 5, 2024 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026
After tours, photographs, and a recruitment advertisement failed to secure Pittsburgh Corning's cellular-glass know-how, Ji Li Huang and Xiao Guang Qi agreed to buy the formula and process from a person they thought was a corrupt insider.
Evidence status
Adjudicated
A court judgment, guilty plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, reversal, or final civil finding.
Documented legal outcome
Both defendants pleaded guilty in January 2013 to conspiracy to steal trade secrets. Huang received 18 months and a $250,000 fine; Qi received time served and a $20,000 fine.[S2]
State connection — a separate question
No state nexus established
The admitted objective was a competing plant in China for private commercial profit; the cited record does not establish PRC government direction or support.
Because the source was cooperating with law enforcement, the record does not establish that authentic FOAMGLAS secrets reached the defendants or a China-based factory.[S1][S2]
Evidence foundation
The adjudicated outcome is currently linked through official government summaries; no dispositive court document is yet included.[S2]
Record dates
Outcome: Jan 25, 2013 Last editorial review: Aug 25, 2026