(资料图片)

Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, August 23 (TMTPOST) -- Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple employee accused of stealing computer files with trade secrets about Apple"s secretive car division, has pleaded guilty to stealing secretive materials from Apple in a federal court in San Jose before he flew to work at Xpeng, a leading Chinese electric vehicle company.

Zhang"s plea agreement with the U.S. government is under seal, according to court filings. Zhang faces imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of $250,000 after admitting to the theft of trade secrets. Sentencing is scheduled for November.

Xpeng responded that the company was not aware of the specifics of the case, nor did it intervene in the follow-up investigation of the case by the U.S. judiciary, and there was no relevant dispute between Xpeng and Apple. Xpeng strictly abides by the relevant laws and attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights, according to its statement.

In July 2018, Zhang was arrested by the FBI at San Jose International Airport in the United States, after he had passed security and was about to fly to Hangzhou, China, on a HNA flight. Subsequently, Zhang was indicted by a local court.

Six days later his arrest, Zhang"s attorney, Daniel Olmos, said after the hearing that his client had been granted bail by a magistrate judge for $300,000. But Zhang refused to plead guilty in federal court in San Jose, California.

For the next four years, no further progress was made in the case until Zhang chose to plead guilty a few days ago.

Zhang was accused of downloading internal Apple files about the company"s car project. The files included a 25-page document on engineering schematics of a circuit board for an autonomous vehicle. Zhang was also accused of taking reference manuals and documents describing Apple"s prototypes and relevant requirements.