TULSA - A former associate scientist was recently sentenced in federal court for stealing proprietary information worth more than $1 billion from his employer, a U.S. petroleum company.
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Hongjin Tan, 36, a Chinese National and U.S. legal permanent resident, to 24 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $150,000 in restitution to his former employer. Following his release from prison, Tan will spend three years on supervised release.
Tan pleaded guilty in November to theft of a trade secret, unauthorized transmission of a trade secret, and unauthorized possession of a trade secret.
An associate scientist at the petroleum company, Tan was assigned to work in a group with the goal of developing next generation battery technologies for stationary energy storage, specifically flow batteries.
In his plea agreement, Tan admitted to intentionally copying and downloading the technologies’ research and development materials without authorization from his employer.
“American ingenuity inspires advances in science and technology and drives world markets. Nowhere is that more true than in Oklahoma’s energy industry. Unscrupulous individuals like Hong jin Tan seek to steal American trade secrets to take home to China so they can replicate our technology,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
According to the plea agreement, Tan used a thumb drive to copy hundreds of files containing the proprietary information. He returned the thumb drive, claiming that he had forgotten to do so before leaving his employer’s property.
Upon examination, it was discovered that there was unallocated space on the thumb drive, indicating five documents had previously been deleted.
Investigators with the FBI searched Tan’s premises and found an external hard drive. They discovered that the same five missing files from the thumb drive had been downloaded to the hard drive. Tan maintained the files on a hard drive so he could access the data at a later date. Further accessing the material would have been financially advantageous for Tan but caused significant financial damage to his Oklahoma employer.