Chinese spy who plotted to steal GE Aviation technology loses appeal

A federal appeals court has upheld the 2021 conviction of a Chinese spy who plotted to steal proprietary information from aviation companies, including Evendale-based GE Aviation.

Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for conspiring to commit economic espionage and attempting to steal trade secrets. In an opinion released Aug. 7, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions.

Chinese spy who plotted to steal GE Aviation technology loses appeal

“A jury declared at the end of Xu’s trial that the government had proven him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt … Now, the appellate court has upheld those decisions,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker said in a statement. “This office will continue to pursue justice at every stage of a case.”

As a senior member of a Chinese intelligence agency, Xu was responsible for “procuring foreign military and commercial aviation technology,” according to the 6th Circuit’s opinion.

Between 2013 and 2018, Xu and his colleagues recruited aviation experts – many of whom had connections to China – to give presentations at universities and aviation companies in China. During those visits, Chinese spies would try to obtain private information.

The GE Aviation engineer, a native of China, fell victim to Xu’s ploy in 2017, according to the opinion.

The engineer was an expert in GE Aviation’s composite fan-blade technology, which no other company had been able to duplicate. He was invited via LinkedIn to give a presentation at a university in China by a spy posing as a university leader.

The engineer accepted the invitation but did not tell GE Aviation about the trip. Before he left, he downloaded files containing proprietary training materials that were not supposed to leave the country without a license, court records show.

After the FBI began investigating the engineer’s trip to China, he agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for immunity from prosecution. The FBI arranged to send him to Europe to meet with Chinese spies.

link