Ex-GE engineer charged with stealing trade secrets for China

ALBANY, N.Y. – Federal prosecutors say a former General Electric engineer and his business partner in China stole the company’s trade secrets from a New York plant for the Chinese government.

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that 56-year-old Xiaoqing Zheng and 47-year-old Zhaoxi Zhang, of Liaoning Province, China, have been indicted on charges of economic espionage and conspiring for stealing GE’s turbine technologies for China.

Zheng was working for Boston-based GE’s power division in Schenectady when he was arrested at his home last summer. Zhang wasn’t charged at the time.

Prosecutors say Zheng stole computer files dealing with GE’s gas and steam turbines and sent them to Zhang, who’s in China.

Zheng was arraigned in federal court in Albany and released. His lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, didn’t comment.