Chinese National Arrested in California for Alleged Theft of Google Trade Secrets

( AsianFin ) — Linwei Ding,   a   former Google software engineer,   was charged with four counts of federal trade secret theft for an alleged plan to steal artificial intelligence technology from Google while also secretly working for two China-based companies, according to a Justice Department indictment Wednesday.

According to the indictment revealed by the Northern District of California court on Wednesday, Ding was recruited   by Google in 2019, with access to confidential information from the company's supercomputing data center. However, two years ago, he began uploading hundreds of files to his personal Google Cloud account.

The charges against the 38-year-old Ding were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during the American Bar Association conference held in San Francisco on Wednesday. Both Garland and other law enforcement leaders have repeatedly warned against economic espionage by Chinese entities.  

Prosecutors allege that shortly after the theft occurred, Ding was hired by an early-stage Chinese technology company as its Chief Technology Officer. The company boasted the use of artificial intelligence technology and provided Ding with a monthly salary of approximately $14,800, along with annual bonuses and company stocks.

According to the indictment, Ding traveled to China to attend the company's investor conference and attempted to raise funds for it.

The prosecution claims that Ding also independently founded a startup in China, serving as its CEO. The company aimed to train large artificial intelligence models driven by supercomputing chips.

It is asserted that Ding did not disclose any affiliation with Google. The company, on Wednesday, described him as a junior employee. He resigned from Google on December 26 of last year.

Three days later, Google executives learned that he had attended an investor conference in Beijing as the CEO of a Chinese company. Google executives reviewed surveillance footage, which showed that while Ding was in China, another employee scanned Ding's access card at Google's U.S. headquarters, making it appear as if Ding were working at the Google office.

Google suspended Ding's network access, locked his laptop, and discovered unauthorized uploads when searching his internet activity history.

In January, the FBI executed a search warrant at Ding's residence, seizing his electronic devices. Additional search warrants were issued for his personal accounts, revealing over 500 unique confidential information files. Authorities claim these files were stolen from Google.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a release, "Upon investigation, we found that this employee had taken a significant number of files, and we promptly handed this matter over to law enforcement. We appreciate the FBI's assistance in helping protect our information, and we will continue to collaborate closely with them." He emphasized, "We have strict safeguards to prevent our trade secrets and proprietary information from being stolen."