China resident who stole Tesla commerce secrets and techniques will get 2-year US sentence

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – A German-Canadian resident of China was sentenced to 24 months in jail within the U.S. for stealing electrical automobile commerce secrets and techniques from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for his competing EV battery enterprise, the U.S. Division of Justice stated on Monday.

Klaus Pflugbeil, 59, pleaded responsible in June to conspiring with enterprise companion Yilong Shao to promote Tesla’s battery manufacturing secrets and techniques to undercover FBI brokers posing as Lengthy Island businesspeople. 

Pflugbeil’s lawyer and spokespeople for Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the sentencing. Shao, who was additionally charged however stays at giant, couldn’t be reached for remark.

“In stealing commerce secrets and techniques from an American electrical automobile producer to make use of in his personal China-based firm, Pflugbeil’s actions stood to learn the (Individuals’s Republic of China) in a important business with nationwide safety implications,”  U.S. Assistant Legal professional Basic Matthew Olsen stated in an announcement.

Pflugbeil, who’s a citizen of Germany and Canada, was charged in New York in March.

Prosecutors stated he and Shao constructed their EV battery enterprise on commerce secrets and techniques from a “main U.S.-based electrical automobile firm.” Prosecutors didn’t identify the corporate, however stated it acquired a Canada-based producer of battery-assembly traces in 2019, which matches the outline of Tesla’s acquisition of Canadian firm Hibar.

The Justice Division stated Pflugbeil and Shao labored for the Canadian firm earlier than Pflugbeil joined Shao’s enterprise in 2020. Prosecutors stated that Pflugbeil and Shao’s enterprise has areas in China, Canada, Germany and Brazil that make the identical battery meeting gear as their earlier employer.

Shao met the undercover brokers at a commerce present in Las Vegas final 12 months, based on prosecutors, after which Pflugbeil despatched them a enterprise proposal containing Tesla’s commerce secrets and techniques.