Hanjuan Jin was found guilty of stealing trade secrets from her former company, Motorola Inc., but was acquitted of charges of economic espionage for China. Jin illegally downloaded 1,000 of the company's proprietary documents, which included important business secrets before trying to board a plane to Beijing. Federal agents found the files on her computer and other electronic devices during a random security search at the airport (Kelleher). Jin simultaneously worked for Motorola as well as a Beijing-based company called Kai Sun News Technology Co., or SunKaisens, which is affiliated with the Chinese military (Harris). .
Jin waived her right to a jury trial, leaving it in the hands of US District Judge Ruben Castillo of Chicago. Judge Castillo found her guilty of three counts of stealing Motorola's trade secrets but acquitted her of three counts of economic espionage in favor of China. Castillo commented that prosecutors revealed that Jin had "criminally betrayed Motorola," but that he couldn't rightfully determine that she meant to betray the United States. Prosecutors attempted to highlight her as part of a much broader Chinese-run industrial spying effort that could seriously harm the United States' economy (Kelleher). .
Jin will receive her sentencing on April 18, but for now she remains free on bond. She could serve up to 10 years in prison for each of the three counts (Kelleher). .
Several instances of economic espionage have been occurring around the country. In fact, the day that Judge Castillo found Jin guilty of stealing trade secrets, a Chinese company in California was indicted for conspiracy to commit economic espionage after stealing secrets from DuPont. Just last year, Chunlai Yang, a native of China but a US citizen, stole trade secrets from CME Group. Many officials are worried that the Chinese government has many spies attempting to steal business secrets (Kelleher).
