A California judge sentenced Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple engineer, to 120 days in prison six years after he was accused of stealing trade secrets from the company’s Project Titan by US authorities.
Accused of stealing plans related to Apple’s self-driving car initiative, Zhang was given an extra three years of probation and 120 days in prison for his crime.
The report added that the former Apple employee was also ordered to pay the tech giant $146,984 in compensation.
Before attempting to escape to China, Zhang downloaded 25 pages of documents related to Project Titan onto his personal laptop, as per the criminal complaint filed in federal court.
In 2018, Zhang was indicted and pleaded not guilty but after that he admitted his guilt in August of this year. California’s federal prosecutors appealed to the judge for an indefinite prison sentence.
In April 2018,
As per a complaint filed in squalid California court, Zhang went with his family to China after the birth of his second child while on paternity leave from the company.
Upon his return from leave,
Zhang communicated to his superiors that he intended to step down and go back home to China.
During that time, the complaint alleges that his plan was to become a member of Xiaopeng Motors.
An investigation was launched by Apple after Zhang’s evasive behavior was detected during his exit.
During the inquiry,
Zhang was found to have conducted thorough searches of classified databases.
It has been reported that he was on paternity leave and also went to Apple’s campus on April.
