A former Indiana scientist accused of illegally sending trade secrets worth $300 million to China and Germany was ordered detained Tuesday on rare charges of economic espionage.A federal indictment unsealed in Indianapolis alleges that 45-year-old Kexue Huang, who was born in China, passed on proprietary information about the development of organic pesticides to Hunan Normal University while he worked as a researcher for Dow AgroSciences in Indiana from 2003 to 2008.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Ridgeway said Huang, a Canadian citizen with permanent U.S. resident status, used a “patient and calculated” plan to “drain” the Indianapolis-based company of technology that took 20 years to develop.
The indictment alleges that Huang published a paper in China about the organic pesticides and also directed students at Hunan Normal in further research.
Source: Associated Press (August 31, 2010)
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