SAN JOSE, California – In a shocking case of corporate espionage, Peter Kisang Kim, a 50-year-old former Broadcom engineer, has been charged with 18 counts of trade secret theft.
According to the indictment, filed on November 4, 2021, and unsealed today, Kim worked as a principal design engineer at Broadcom for over twenty years.
The indictment alleges that in the days leading up to his departure from Broadcom on July 17, 2020, Kim stole trade secrets from the company associated with a Broadcom family of chips used in high-volume data centers.
About ten days after his departure, Kim began working at Company-1, a China-based startup company focused on chip design and the market for networking chips.
The indictment charges Kim with 18 counts of trade secret theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a), which carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, for each count.
Kim made his initial appearance in federal court in San Jose, where he was arraigned on the indictment and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.
Kim was released on a $500,000 bond and ordered to surrender his passport and other travel documents.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Cheng and Kyle Waldinger of the Special Prosecutions Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Kim is next scheduled to appear at 1:30 pm on January 31, 2022, before the Honorable Edward J. Davila, U.S. District Judge.
Kim’s case is a stark reminder of the importance of protecting trade secrets in the tech industry.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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