Photo: CNEVPost/edited by autoevolution
The automotive world is pretty curious to see if Apple will ever sell an electric car. Talented people have been hired to take care of the project, but the EV seems to be always waiting for something to reach production lines. It even has a trade secret stealing scandal of its own. A former Apple employee hired by XPeng has been arrested for that by the FBI. The latest news related to this case is that he pleaded guilty.
On July 7, 2018, Xiaolang Zhang was trying to travel to China when the FBI arrested him at the San Jose International Airport. He left Apple in May after working for the company since 2015. Everything changed in April 2018, when he took paternity leave and traveled to China. At the same time, Apple started suspecting that Zhang was stealing trade secrets from the company.
When Zhang returned, he presented his resignation letter, saying he wanted to move back to China to take care of his mother. Soon after that, he started working for XPeng in its Silicon Valley office. On the day he was arrested, Zhang bought a last-minute ticket to China.
According to the criminal minutes published by CNEVPost, Zhang was not in custody when he decided to plead guilty to felony theft of trade secrets. Sentencing will only happen in November, but Sina Finance states that he will face ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. We’re not sure if that’s already set and will only be officially confirmed in November or if that is the worst time and financial penalty he may get in this case. Pleading guilty usually is an attempt to reduce jail time and other liabilities.
XPeng was quick to state it would cooperate with the American justice and that it did not get the 25-page document Zhang downloaded with engineering schematics for the car development or any other documents, such as reference manuals and PDFs about Apple’s prototypes. If Zhang confessed he stole trade secrets from Apple, he must have said who would get them or how he planned to use them. The Plea Agreement was filed under seal, meaning that it will probably lead to other investigations. In other words, this case is far from over.
When Zhang returned, he presented his resignation letter, saying he wanted to move back to China to take care of his mother. Soon after that, he started working for XPeng in its Silicon Valley office. On the day he was arrested, Zhang bought a last-minute ticket to China.
According to the criminal minutes published by CNEVPost, Zhang was not in custody when he decided to plead guilty to felony theft of trade secrets. Sentencing will only happen in November, but Sina Finance states that he will face ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. We’re not sure if that’s already set and will only be officially confirmed in November or if that is the worst time and financial penalty he may get in this case. Pleading guilty usually is an attempt to reduce jail time and other liabilities.
XPeng was quick to state it would cooperate with the American justice and that it did not get the 25-page document Zhang downloaded with engineering schematics for the car development or any other documents, such as reference manuals and PDFs about Apple’s prototypes. If Zhang confessed he stole trade secrets from Apple, he must have said who would get them or how he planned to use them. The Plea Agreement was filed under seal, meaning that it will probably lead to other investigations. In other words, this case is far from over.
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