FBI Charges Chinese Software Developer with Trade Secrets Theft

49-year-old Yang Chunlai will face court on Wednesday. The FBI has accused him of stealing trade secrets from his former employer, CME Group, which runs derivatives exchanges. The FBI says Yang illegally copied protected source code and other information to his hard drives, and was planning to use these to set up a Chinese exchange.

Shen Liangqing, a former prosecutor from China’s Shenyang Province, believes Yang’s alleged activities are part of what the Chinese regime calls its “united front” strategy. It’s aimed at having overseas Chinese serve the interest of the regime.

[Shen Liangqing, Former Prosecutor]:
“The regime is attracting these Chinese community leaders to influence Western countries, to reduce the pressure on the Communist regime. This is one of the major reasons it’s developing pro-communist relationships in Western countries.”

Yang is the president of the Chicago-based Association of Chinese Scientists and Engineers. In 2006, he received training in Beijing designed for overseas Chinese community leaders, according to state-run People’s Daily. In 2007, the naturalized American said in a conference in Beijing that the Communist Party wants overseas scholars to “serve the country”—China, that is—by becoming involved in their local communities.

According to the FBI, Yang emailed CME source code to an official in China last year. He’s believed to have invested in a company in Hong Kong which is planning to set up a future exchange in China.

The FBI arrested Yang at his CME office on Friday. He had earlier booked a one-way ticket back to China, leaving on July 7. If convicted of the trade secret theft felony, Yang could face a $250,000 fine, up to ten years in prison.