Audio Transcript

Halpern: The FBI case involving a Chinese citizen and his employee shows the very real threat of economic espionage.

I’m Mollie Halpern of the FBI, and this is Gotcha,The Bureau’s closed case of the week.

Ji Li Huang and his employee, Xiao Guang Qi, tried to steal an American company’s proprietary formula for cellular glass insulation.

Jeremiah Crabtree: They were extremely brazen in how aggressive they were and the amount of techniques they tried.

Halpern: At a hotel, Huang and Qi met with an employee of the American company to buy the trade secret information for $200,000.

What the pair did not know was that the company and its employee were working with the FBI and the meeting was a sting operation.

Crabtree: We faked documents and stamped "Confidential," "Proprietary," and "Secret" on the victim company’s trade secret information. We actually didn't use the real trade secret. We never wanted to put that at risk.

Halpern: Huang was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. Qi was deported and fined $30,000. To see the video based on this case, visit www.fbi.gov