BOSTON — A citizen of the People’s Republic of China has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly stealing trade secrets from his employer, a global investment management firm, while working in Massachusetts in 2021.
Xiao Zhang, 33, of Shanghai, China, was indicted on one count of theft of trade secrets, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday. Zhang currently remains at large overseas.
According to the indictment, in 2021, Zhang allegedly used a virtual private network (VPN) to access his employer’s network from the People’s Republic of China, which enabled him to circumvent the company’s controls.
Zhang then allegedly made copies of his employer’s code, projects and research, and sent the copies through a People’s Republic of China-based file-sharing application, enabling him to again evade his employer’s controls.
Prosecutors allege that Zhang then used the stolen items with the intent of establishing his own investment firm in the People’s Republic of China.
The name of the investment management firm was not released.
The charge of theft of trade secrets provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
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