Ex-Google Engineer Convicted for Stealing 2,000 AI Trade Secrets for China Startup
Jan 30, 2026
Artificial Intelligence / Economic Espionage
A former Google engineer accused of stealing thousands of the company's confidential documents to build a startup in China has been convicted in the U.S., the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Thursday. Linwei Ding (aka Leon Ding), 38, was convicted by a federal jury on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for taking over 2,000 documents containing the tech giant's trade secrets related to artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the benefit of the People's Republic of China (PRC). "Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives economic growth and strengthens our national security," said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian. "We will vigorously protect American intellectual capital from foreign interests that seek to gain an unfair competitive advantage while putting our national security at risk." Ding was indicted in March 2024 for ...
