Former Apple employee sentenced to 4 months in prison for stealing trade secrets

The California district court has finally come forth with a decision on Xiaolang Zhang's case and the former Apple employee is getting 4 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release and is required to pay $146,984 in damages.

The case has been going since 2018, when the FBI and Apple first started collaborating on the matter and found that Zhang had most likely stolen sensitive company trade secrets regarding Project Titan. For those unaware, that's how Apple refers to its future smart EV.

The ex-employee left the USA and returned to China and joined XMotors, a Chinese startup working on autonomous car technologies. This is when Apple first noticed Mr. Zhang's evasive behavior and acted.

Evidence about Zhang's malicious activity surfaced from his network activity at Apple and his Apple devices. He worked as an engineer on various products within Project Titan.

The man pleaded guilty, and it is now time to serve his sentence.

Via