Worker accused of stealing secrets

A software engineer from Schaumburg is facing federal charges that she betrayed her ex-employer by stealing $600 million in trade secrets with plans to take them to China.

Hanjuan Jin, 37, was charged with three counts of theft of trade secrets in an indictment returned Tuesday by a Chicago federal grand jury, the U.S. attorney's office announced Wednesday.

Federal authorities said U.S. customs agents seized sensitive proprietary information from Jin as she attempted to board a flight to China on Feb. 28, 2007, at O'Hare International Airport. That included more than 1,000 documents, both electronic and paper, belonging to Jin's former employer. Authorities said they also found $30,000 in her luggage.

The release of the classified engineering information on three computer networking products would have cost the suburban telecommunications firm that employed Jin $600 million over the next three years, officials said. Court documents identify the firm only as "Company A."

Jin posted a $50,000 bond and is to be arraigned on a future date. She was arrested March 7.

According to authorities, Jin, a U.S. citizen born in China, began working for "Company A" in 1998. The firm granted her medical leave in February 2006. Later that year -- without telling "Company A" -- she began working for a Chinese company in telecommunications software development, court documents state.

Jin then notified "Company A" on Feb. 23, 2007, that she was ready to return to work and the next day purchased a one-way ticket for China leaving four days later, authorities said.

Two days before the flight, Jin returned to "Company A" and downloaded more than 200 technical documents from the firm's secure internal computer network and removed other classified materials from the offices, authorities said. The next day she e-mailed "Company A" a resignation letter but later that evening continued downloading confidential documents, , authorities said.

Illinois Institute Technology spokesman Jeff Bierig confirmed Jin was a 2000 graduate of the Chicago school, earning a master's degree in computer science.

She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, federal authorities said. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of computer hardware and equipment.

A number listed for Hanjuan Jin in Schaumburg was disconnected.