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Press Release

Former GE Engineer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Trade Secrets

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jean Patrice Delia, age 44, of Montreal, Canada, pled guilty today to conspiring to steal trade secrets from the General Electric Company (GE).

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his plea, Delia, a former engineer with GE, admitted that he conspired with his business partner and co-defendant, Miguel Sernas, to compete against GE using trade secrets Delia stole from GE while employed by GE in Schenectady, New York.  Delia admitted that he and Sernas, operating as ThermoGen Power Services, used the stolen trade secrets, as well as stolen marketing data, pricing information, and other confidential GE documents, to compete against GE around the world.

Delia faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years when he is sentenced on April 10, 2020 by Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

Sernas, who pled guilty in May 2019, was sentenced today to time served (approximately 12 months in jail) and ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution.

This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne A. Myers.

Updated December 11, 2019

Topic
Counterintelligence