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Justice Department Steps Up Prosecution of Chinese Economic Espionage

Masood Farivar

   WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department is escalating prosecution of
   Chinese economic espionage cases, part of the Trump administration's
   crackdown on China's alleged theft of American intellectual property
   and other predatory practices that are at the heart of trade tensions
   between Washington and Beijing.

   In the last 10 months, the Justice Department has brought charges
   against Chinese nationals and entities in at least seven separate
   economic espionage cases, up from three during the prior 10 months. In
   addition, the department has obtained guilty pleas and convictions in
   six older espionage cases, while charging four Chinese nationals for
   evading sanctions against North Korea.

   Last week the Justice Department indicted a University of Kansas
   researcher on federal fraud charges for concealing his ties to a
   Chinese university while working on a government-funded research
   project. While not charged as economic espionage, the case is part of a
   broader U.S. effort to block Chinese attempts to steal American
   technology.

   "The indictments and prosecutions that you're seeing the public face of
   now are consistent with and a natural follow-up to the highest public
   priority now assigned by the Justice Department to countering
   Chinese-sponsored economic espionage," said David Laufman, a partner at
   the Wiggin and Dana law firm who previously oversaw the prosecution of
   economic espionage cases at the Justice Department.

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