IT worker stole trade secrets to take to China: US justice

CHICAGO (AFP) — A former software engineer has been charged for allegedly stealing trade secrets from a telecoms firm in Chicago and trying to take the documents to China, federal justice officials said Wednesday.

Hanjuan Jin, a China-born US citizen, was stopped at Chicago international airport in February 2007 as she tried to board a flight to China, allegedly carrying more than 1,000 documents, many of them confidential, they said.

Customs officials seized the documents, which were in both electronic and paper format and which the Chicago firm said contained information representing hundreds of millions dollars of research of development.

Following a criminal complaint, Jin was arrested on March 7.

She has now been charged with three counts of theft of trade secrets, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a 250,000-dollar fine, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. ...