U.S. Department
of Justice
Press Release
Former Lutonix Executive Pleads Guilty To Stealing Trade Secrets
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota
Acting United States Attorney Gregory G. Brooker today announced the guilty plea of CHRISTOPHER BARRY, 46, for stealing trade secrets from his former employer, Lutonix, Inc. BARRY, who was charged by felony information on April 5, 2017, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard H. Kyle in St. Paul, Minn.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea, from 2007 until May 1, 2015, BARRY was the Vice President of Research & Development for Lutonix, Inc. (“Lutonix”), a company based in New Hope, Minn. that develops, manufactures, and sells drug coated balloon (“DCB”) medical products. In his role, BARRY was responsible for all research and development, quality assurance, and manufacturing activities for the company, among other things. BARRY was also directly involved in the development of Lutonix’s primary product, an extremely valuable proprietary DCB called the Lutonix 035 DCB.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea, in May 2015, BARRY left Lutonix and accepted employment as CEO of Urotronic, a start-up medical device company founded by a former Lutonix employee. As BARRY was planning to leave Lutonix, he stole numerous trade secret files belonging to the company so that he could utilize the proprietary information in connection with his next job. During his employment with Urotronic, BARRY transferred the stolen trade secret files from his portable hard drive onto his Urotronic work computer. Additionally, while BARRY was employed at Urotronic, he shared several procedural documents containing Lutonix trade secrets with other Urotronic employees.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin Langner.
Defendant Information:
CHRISTOPHER BARRY, 46
Medina, Minn.
Convicted:
Updated May 9, 2017
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