Former Engineer for Motorola Convicted of Stealing Trade Secrets
On February 8, 2012, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced that Hanjuan Jin, a former software engineer for Motorola, Inc. (now Motorola Solutions, Inc.) was found guilty of stealing Motorola trade secrets. Jin, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, possessed more than 1,000 electronic and paper Motorola proprietary documents when she was stopped by U.S. customs officials as she attempted to travel on a one-way ticket to China in February 2007.
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Worked for Chinese Telecom Company During Medical Leave from Motorola
Jin began working for Motorola in 1998, and took a medical leave of absence in February 2006. Between June and November 2006, while still on sick leave from Motorola, Jin pursued employment in China with Sun Kaisens, a telecommunications company that developed products for the Chinese military. Between November 2006 and February 2007, Jin returned to China and did work for Sun Kaisens on projects for the Chinese military. During this same period of time, Jin was given classified Chinese military documents by a Sun Kaisens employee to review in order to better assist with the Chinese military projects. She returned to the U.S. from China on February 15, 2007.
Resumed Work with Motorola for 2 Days in Order to Steal Trade Secrets and Return to China
On February 26, 2007, Jin returned to Motorola, purportedly to resume full-time work. On that day, Jin accessed more than 200 technical documents belonging to Motorola on its secure internal computer network and downloaded additional documents. On February 27, 2007, Jin was recorded twice leaving a Motorola building with hard copy documents and other materials. That day, she volunteered for a voluntary layoff at Motorola and later that night, returned to Motorola’s offices, downloaded numerous additional technical documents, and was recorded leaving a Motorola building with what appeared to be a laptop computer bag.
Authorities Recovered Secret Motorola and Chinese Documents Along With $30,000 Cash
As she attempted to depart for China on February 28, 2007, authorities seized numerous materials, some of which were marked confidential and proprietary belonging to Motorola. Some of the documents provided a detailed description of how Motorola provides a specific communication feature that Motorola incorporates into its telecommunications products sold throughout the world. At the same time, authorities recovered multiple classified Chinese military documents written in the Chinese language that described certain telecommunication projects for the Chinese military. Many of these documents were marked “secret” by the Chinese military. Authorities also recovered approximately $30,000 in U.S. currency.
Faces Max of 30 Years in Prison
Jin was found guilty of three counts of theft of trade secrets, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. However, she was found not guilty on three counts of economic espionage for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China and its military.