Judge tosses espionage charges, Ding convicted of trade secret theft
Technology
A US judge has tossed out half of the charges against Linwei "Leon" Ding, a former Google engineer.
While the court found there wasn't enough proof he meant to help the Chinese government (so those espionage charges are gone), Ding was still found guilty of theft of trade secrets and of stealing thousands of pages of confidential information.
Ding faces up to 10 years
Ding started at Google in 2019 and allegedly took secret info from 2022 onward, while being recruited by a Chinese tech company.
He now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of trade secret theft.
Sentencing is set for September 1, 2026, but so far, Google hasn't commented on the outcome.