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Feds: Trio stole Lucent's trade secrets Suspects wanted to build own tech titan in China, FBI says
By Andrew Backover
USA TODAY


Two Lucent Technologies scientists and a third man were arrested Thursday and charged with stealing trade secrets from Lucent to share with a firm majority-owned by the Chinese government.

U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary accused two Chinese nationals, Hai Lin and Kai Xu, and a U.S. citizen, Yong-Qing Cheng, of corporate espionage.

Authorities says there was no indication the Chinese firm or government were criminally involved.

The men allegedly conspired to steal software associated with Lucent's PathStar Access Server, which switches data and voice over networks. While the product was described by U.S. federal officials as a Lucent ''crown jewel,'' the company discontinued it in January.

Federal authorities allege that the trio had been conspiring since July to take the technology from Lucent for a partnership with the Chinese firm Datang Telecom Technology, one of China's largest telecom equipment sellers.

Until their arrests, Lin and Xu, were regarded as ''distinguished members'' of Lucent's staff, court documents say. Their intent, court documents say, was to build a networking powerhouse akin to ''the Cisco of China,'' referring to the U.S.-based Cisco Systems.

The charges do not involve national security or government espionage -- unlike the Russian spying charges brought against Robert Hanssen earlier this year and in 1999 against Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. All but one of the charges against Lee were dismissed last year.

The case comes at a time when relations between the United States and China are fragile after last month's downing of a U.S. plane. And, it comes as allegations of industrial espionage become a heavier burden for authorities.

''The tools are different now -- computers and information technology -- but the profit motive is the same,'' FBI agent Kevin Donovan says.

Lin, 30, of Scotch Plains, N.J., and Xu, 33, of Somerset, N.J., had worked for Lucent for less than 5 years and had business visas. Cheng, 37, of East Brunswick, N.J., is vice president of Village Networks. They face a maximum 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Neighbors of Lin say he's hardworking. ''He minded his own business,'' neighbor George Bryant says. The suburban neighborhood of $400,000-plus homes was disrupted Thursday when about a dozen agents arrested Lin and carted off three carloads of boxes.

Lucent spokesman Bill Price declined to discuss Xu's or Lin's employment. Authorities say they set up a company, ComTriad Technologies, that formed a joint venture with Datang and received $1.2 million.

Corporate espionage ''happens a lot,'' says Ira Winkler, president of the Internet Security Advisors Group. But most cases aren't prosecuted because companies remain silent.

All your telephone switch technology are belong to us!!

I don't know if you guys caught the below:



Ha, they stole the most valuable thing the company owns, but the company discontinued it in January.  Typical Lucent.  I don't know if you guys follow Lucent, but they've made quite an ass out of themselves lately by buying valuable companies, then stopping production and development on their products.  I have a poor nephew that worked for Livingston when Lucent bought the company only to drop their employees and products.  He moved to Ascend, and Lucent did the same.  They bought the best products in the industry, only to fire the employees and trash the products.  What is the point in buying a company only to close them?  Strange beancounter logic there.

Lock 'em up and throw the key away.  Don't forget their finger cuffs.

They deserve about 30-40 years in a "Pound me in the Ass" Federal penitentiary.