Fuping Liu and Anne Lockwood are charged with stealing trade secrets from Metaldyne and rival GKN Sinter Metals and sell the information to a Chinese manufacturer. GKN Sinter Metals, a subsidiary of British-based GKN Plc., is one of the world's leading producers of powder metal components.
Liu, a U.S. citizen, 41, made $125,000 annually as director of technology for the Shanghai office of GKN. He had worked at Metaldyne as an engineer until quitting in April 2004 to work for GKN. Liu was arrested February 1 by the FBI at the Marriott Hotel in Troy.
The FBI arrested also Anne Lockwood, a former vice president of sales at Plymouth auto parts supplier Metaldyne Corp. February 1. Liu is accused of stealing confidential information and passing it along to Lockwood
A federal magistrate released Fuping Liu on a personal bond and ordered him to remain at a Detroit halfway house while being monitored by an electronic tether. (Source: David Shepardson, The Detroit News, Feb. 3, 2005).