A New York man was sentenced yesterday to 24 months behind bars for his part in a conspiracy to steal aviation trade secrets and send them to China.
Xiaoqing Zheng, 59, of Niskayuna, New York, was convicted of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, after a four-week jury trial that ended in March last year, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Zheng worked at GE Power’s Schenectady plant from 2008 to 2018, where he specialized in engineering turbine sealing technology.
His participation in the conspiracy saw top secret IP sent to Chinese companies and universities researching, developing and manufacturing parts for turbines.
It’s believed to be part of a sophisticated multi-year cyber-espionage campaign designed to help China gain parity with western aerospace firms and help it build the C919 commercial airliner.
According to assistant director Alan Kohler of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, Zheng was a member of the controversial Thousand Talents Program – a Communist Party initiative designed to recruit science and technology experts living abroad to make the country a world leader in the field by 2050.
According to a US Senate report, this and hundreds of other such programs lured as many as 60,000 experts between 2008 and 2016 – many of whom had Chinese heritage. That same report declared the scheme a threat to American interests, given its focus on IP theft.
“This is a case of textbook economic espionage. Zheng exploited his position of trust, betrayed his employer and conspired with the government of China to steal innovative American technology,” said assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“The Justice Department will hold accountable those who threaten our national security by conniving to steal valuable trade secrets on behalf of a foreign power.”
Alongside his jail sentence, Zheng will be required to pay a $7500 fine and serve one year of supervised release post-imprisonment.