Xiwen Huang, Theft of Trade Secrets, North Carolina 2015

Chinese Businessman Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

A Chinese businessman, Xiwen Huang, 55, of Charlotte, has been charged with theft of trade secrets. Huang is expected to appear in court on October 2, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. to enter his formal guilty plea.

According to court documents, from about 2006 through May 2015, Huang engaged in a scheme to steal trade secrets from multiple companies within the United States, and intellectual property from the United States government, to further his aspirations of forming and operating his own company in the People’s Republic of China (China).

Huang is a native of China and naturalized U.S. Citizen. Prior to coming to the United States to obtain his doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering, Huang wrote that he ‘had a dream of learning more advanced technology to serve [his] homeland’ of China and decided that to ‘fulfill [his] wish’ he needed to go abroad and then ‘return to China with [his] newly acquired methodology and research skills to teach in China.’

Court records show that Huang came to the United States in 1998 to study and work. From approximately December 2004 until he was fired by his employer in approximately March 2014, Huang stole proprietary and confidential information, including trade secret information and other intellectual property belonging to a Government Research Facility and two United States companies, with the intent to use the stolen information for the economic benefit of himself, a Chinese company, and others.

The stolen information included technology related to military vehicle fuel cells. Huang also stole from one U.S. company more than 500 documents containing confidential and proprietary information, including trade secret information related to 30 different products with research and development costs associated therewith of more than $65 million. From a second U.S. company, Huang stole more than 100 documents containing trade secret, confidential and proprietary information with research and development costs associated therewith of more than $25 million.

Huang is expected to face federal prison time for his crime. ‘After having received the benefit of an American education, the defendant worked for companies in the U.S. which developed technology for the U.S. government and private enterprises. The defendant then stole secret information from these entities to bring back to China to benefit himself and others,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose. ‘For this reprehensible conduct the defendant is going to federal prison. We will do the same to other industry thieves in a continued effort to protect American intellectual property and maintain fairness in the marketplace.’

The FBI will continue to work tirelessly to hold accountable those who try to profit off the work of others. ‘For years Xiwen Huang targeted U.S. companies intending to steal the intellectual property others had worked so diligently to develop. The research and product development information he stole from a North Carolina business put our state’s economy and people’s jobs at risk,’ said John Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Cybercrime

Jicarilla Juan Tiznado, Cyberstalking, Montana 2022

Oct 31, 2023

Cybercrime

Weldon Marshall, Unlawful Retention of Classified Information, Texas 2018

Mar 5, 2018

Cybercrime

Shaninth Michael Ray, Cyberstalking, Iowa 2023

Aug 11, 2026

Cybercrime

Demetrius Cervantes, Protected Health Information Theft, Texas 2020

Jul 8, 2021