Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, pleaded guilty in San Jose federal court Augus6 1 to one count of economic espionage for trying to sell stolen software and one count of violating U.S. arms control regulations for illegally exporting software used to train military fighter pilots Meng is a Chinese national with Canadian citizenship who currently lives in Cupertino, about 45 miles south of San Francisco.
Meng was indicted in December on 36 felony counts alleging he stole code for software made by his former employer, San Jose-based Quantum3D Inc., and attempting to sell it to the Royal Thai Air Force, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, and the Navy Research Center in China. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he faces a reduced sentence of up to two years in prison and a $1.5 million fine. Sentencing was set for Jan. 23. Meng is currently free on $500,000 bond.
The indictment was the third time prosecutors charged someone with economic espionage, the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996.
In December, Fei Ye, a U.S. citizen from China, and Ming Zhong, a permanent resident of the U.S. from China, were charged with stealing confidential microchip blueprints from their employers and attempting to smuggle them to China to start a microprocessor company. Sentencing in their case is set for Sept. 10. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 2, 2007).