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Two SJ Engineers Sentenced For Economic Espionage

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Nov 21, 2008 4:27 pm US/Pacific

Two SJ Engineers Sentenced For Economic Espionage

SAN JOSE (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Two San Jose engineers from China are facing a year in prison after pleading guilty to economic espionage charges.
CBS

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Two engineers from China are each facing a year in prison on the rare charge of economic espionage against the U.S.

Fei Ye, a U.S. citizen, and Ming Zhong, a permanent resident of the U.S., were sentenced Friday in federal court in San Jose. They admitted in 2006 that they stole computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and tried to smuggle the secrets to China to launch a government-backed startup there.

Their guilty pleas represented the first convictions for the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. They were accused of trying to benefit China with their stolen chip designs, though prosecutors did not allege that the Chinese government knew of their illegal activities.

Ye and Zhong could have gotten 30 years. Prosecutors asked for less because the men cooperated with investigators.