(CN) - A 75-year-old former Dow Chemical scientist was sentenced to five years in federal prison for stealing trade secrets, selling them to companies in China, and perjury.
Wen Chyu Liu, aka David W. Liou, of Houston, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady in Baton Rouge.
Brady also ordered Liu to forfeit $600,000 and fined him $25,000.
A federal jury convicted Liu in February 2011 of conspiring to steal trade secrets and perjury.
Liu came to the United States from China for graduate study, then worked for Dow from 1965 to 1992.
Prosecutors said Liu had access to trade secrets on polymers and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) technology at Dow's Plaquemine, La., facility. The polymers are used in automotive and industrial hoses, electrical cable jackets and vinyl siding.
Liu conspired with Dow employees at Plaquemine and in Stade, Germany to take the trade secrets, the Department of Justice said in a statement announcing his sentence.
"Liu traveled extensively throughout China to market the stolen information, and evidence introduced at trial showed that he paid current and former Dow employees for Dow's CPE-related material and information. In one instance, Liu bribed a then-employee at the Plaquemine facility with $50,000 in cash to provide Dow's process manual and other CPE-related information," according to the Justice Department.
Liu committed perjury by denying under oath that he had arranged for a co-conspirator to travel to China to meet with representatives of a Chinese company interested in designing and building a new CPE plant. He told that lie during a deposition for a civil complaint Dow had filed against him.
Follow @davejourno
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
Alaska, Hawaiian Airlines April 17, 2024 -
-
Contributor-Test-Post-2024-04-12 April 12, 2024 -
