The Ex-Apple Hardware Engineer working on 'Project Titan' who Stole Apple Trade Secrets was Sentenced this week
In July 2018, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Ex-Apple Employee Arrested for Stealing Project Titan Secrets." The report noted that "Xiaolang Zhang was accused by U.S. prosecutors of downloading files containing proprietary information as he prepared to leave Apple back in April and start work for Guangzhou-based Xiaopeng Motors." Further, Zhang had admitted to the FBI that he downloaded Apple driverless technology files to his wife's laptop to have continued access to them, according to the complaint. He was arrested on July 7, 2018.
We're now learning that Xiaolang Zhang has been sentenced to 120 days in prison followed by a three-year supervised release. In addition to serving time behind bars, he also has to pay restitution amounting to $146,984.
The former Apple employee worked as a hardware engineer for the company's decade-old autonomous vehicle initiative codenamed Project Titan. Based on Apple's complaint, Zhang transferred a 25-page document containing engineering schematics of a circuit board for the company's self-driving vehicle to his wife's laptop via AirDrop. He also saved a copy of technical manuals that described Apple's prototype to that laptop, in addition to stealing circuit boards and a Linux server from the company's development labs.
Zhang resigned from Apple following a paternity leave and a trip to China, telling the iPhone maker that he was going to work in the country for XPeng Motors. That reportedly triggered an investigation, since XPeng is also working on autonomous driving technology, which revealed that Zhang was caught on CCTV taking hardware from Apple's labs and transferring files to his wife's computer. For more, read the full Engadget report.
Other reports that we originally posted on this subject matter:
- 01: Apple tells California Court that IP is the core of their Innovation & Fear that two ex-employees will Flee to China if given the chance
- 02: A Second Chinese National Working on Project Titan has been Arrested by the FBI for Stealing Company Secrets
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