Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LOS ANGELES – A San Bernardino County man pleaded guilty today to illegally possessing sensitive technologies that he downloaded from his Southern California-based employers and used them to market his own competing company to a China-based company.
Liming Li, 66, of Rancho Cucamonga, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of trade secrets.
“Protecting U.S. companies’ sensitive intellectual property is critical to our country’s success in a global economy,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “The defendant here stole intellectual property in order to benefit companies in China. Stealing proprietary information undermines our economic security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will aggressively prosecute individuals that engage in this conduct.”
“Mr. Li’s greed allowed him to be used by a Chinese company without regard for the negative implications to the economy or national security of the United States,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is well-aware that China is actively seeking and stealing American intellectual property at a rapid pace and those who willingly hand it over, as Mr. Li has done and now acknowledged, will face serious consequences.”
According to his plea agreement, from 1996 to 2013, Li worked for a Southern California-based business identified in court documents as “U.S. Company #1,” which specialized in precision measuring instruments and metrological technology and equipment. The company designed and sold a range of products such as micrometers, calipers, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), and optical measurement systems.
Li worked at U.S. Company #1 as a senior software engineer, then as a program manager. From 2013 to 2018, Li worked as chief technologist at a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Company #1. During his employment at U.S. Company #1 and its subsidiary, Li worked on the development of the source code for one of the company’s software programs, which was considered its proprietary information.
In July 2013, Li signed an employee handbook and confidentiality agreement with U.S. Company #1 that required him to turn over all writings, records, files, technology, trade secrets or data containing any proprietary information belonging to the company. The agreement also prohibited Li from copying the company’s proprietary information without written permission.
Li admitted in his plea agreement that he occasionally downloaded the company’s proprietary information onto his personal devices without permission. Li failed to return all the proprietary information belonging to U.S. Company #1 after its subsidiary terminated him in January 2018.
In February 2018, Li operated a consulting company named JSL Innovations Inc. and in March 2020, he signed an employment agreement with Suzhou Universal Group Technology Co. Ltd., a China-based chain-and-bearing manufacturer. Li continued to work for Suzhou Universal until his arrest in May 2023. During this period, Li continued to knowingly possess U.S. Company #1’s proprietary information and – more than once – accessed this information without that company’s authorization.
Li admitted that he used the proprietary information for his own economic benefit and that it would injure U.S. Company #1’s interests.
United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt scheduled a May 8 sentencing hearing, at which time Li will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
The FBI investigated this matter with substantial assistance from the Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security.
The case against Li was brought under the auspices of the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, which is co-led by the Departments of Justice and Commerce. The Strike Force seeks to counter efforts by hostile nation-states to illicitly acquire sensitive U.S. technology to advance their authoritarian regimes and facilitate human rights abuses.
Assistant United States Attorney Aaron B. Frumkin of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section, Solomon D. Kim of the Major Frauds Section, and David T. Ryan of the National Security Division are prosecuting this case.