A former Apple employee pleaded not guilty on Monday after federal prosecutors filed an indictment accusing him of stealing trade secrets.
Federal officials on July 12 indicted Xiaolang Zhang on a single count of trade secret theft, alleging that Zhang had stolen a 25-page blueprint for a circuit board designed to be used in an autonomous vehicle, according to the indictment filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
The formal indictment followed a filing by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent on July 10 describing the charge and Zhang's arrest at a Silicon Valley airport before boarding a flight to China.
Zhang pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Monday in San Jose. He had been provisionally appointed a public defender, but has retained his own lawyer, Daniel Olmos.
Olmos declined to comment on the case. A spokesman for the US Attorney for the Northern District of California declined to comment beyond the indictment.
© Thomson Reuters 2018
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.