http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/16708448.htm By Randall Chase Associated Press Feb. 15, 2007 DOVER, Del. - A former DuPont Co. senior scientist from Ohio faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting that he stole trade secrets from the company, federal authorities said Thursday. Gary Min, also known as Yonggang Min, pleaded guilty in November to stealing trade secrets, but the case was not unsealed by federal prosecutors in Wilmington until Thursday. Min, 43, of Grove City, Ohio, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 29. U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly said Min, a naturalized U.S. citizen from China, has surrendered his passport and has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in an ongoing investigation. Min's attorney, Michael Mustokoff, said his client accepts responsibility for what he did. "He had no concept of the potential harm that he might have caused the company," Mustokoff said. Authorities said the market value of the confidential DuPont technology accessed by Min exceeds $400 million. In a civil lawsuit settled last year, the company claimed only that its damages exceeded $75,000. Mustokoff declined to discuss a motive for Min's actions but said he was not motivated by money or greed. A telephone message left at Min's home was not immediately returned Thursday. DuPont officials said they discovered that Min had accessed and downloaded thousands of confidential company documents only after he submitted his resignation in December 2005 to take a job with Victrex plc, a British-based competitor. DuPont immediately notified the FBI and Commerce Department. "The government has informed DuPont that they have not uncovered affirmative evidence that Mr. Min disseminated the technology at issue to a third party, other than uploading documents to his new employer's computer, which were recovered," DuPont senior vice president and general counsel Stacey Mobley said in a prepared statement. On Feb. 14, 2006, authorities searched Min's home and found several computers that contained DuPont documents marked "confidential" and a program had been started on one computer to erase the hard drive, the FBI said in a statement. Investigators also found garbage bags filled with shredded DuPont documents and remains of DuPont documents in the fireplace. Other confidential documents were kept in a storage unit and a one-bedroom apartment. Min joined DuPont's research laboratory in Circleville, Ohio, in 1995 after completing his doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania under Nobel laureate Alan MacDiarmid, who died last week. According to court documents, Min worked at a DuPont facility in Taiwan from May 2002 to December 2003, and was promoted to a management position there. But Min's wife, also a Chinese national, did not want to move to Taiwan. When his boss insisted in April 2005 that he move his family to Taiwan, Min refused. He was demoted and reassigned to Ohio. "Min has admitted to the FBI that he resented the demotion and felt DuPont had 'betrayed' him," prosecutors said. Shortly after refusing the DuPont job in Taiwan, Min began talking with Victrex, which has facilities in both Taiwan and Shanghai. A telephone message left at the offices of Victrex USA in West Conshohocken, Pa., was not immediately returned Thursday. -=- ON THE NET DuPont Co.: http://www2.dupont.com Victrex PLC: http://www.victrex.com U.S. Attorney for Delaware: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/de ______________________________________ Subscribe to the InfoSec News RSS Feed http://www.infosecnews.org/isn.rss
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Thu Feb 15 2007 - 22:47:28 PST