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(Reuters) — A U.S. jury on Wednesday convicted a California businessman accused of stealing DuPont Co. trade secrets to help a state-owned Chinese company develop a white pigment used in a wide range of products, a U.S. government spokesman said.
In a San Francisco federal court, jurors found Walter Liew guilty on multiple counts including conspiracy to commit economic espionage, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said.
An attorney for Mr. Liew could not immediately be reached for comment.
U.S. prosecutors contended Mr. Liew paid former DuPont engineers to reveal trade secrets that would help the Chinese company, Pangang Group, develop a white pigment called chloride-route titanium dioxide, also known as TiO2. The pigment is used to make a range of white-tinted products, including paper, paint and plastics.
Defense attorneys said Mr. Liew never intended to benefit the Chinese government, and that the DuPont materials he handled were not trade secrets.
The United States has identified industrial spying as a significant and growing threat. DuPont is the world's largest producer of TiO2.
Prosecutors also charged Pangang Group, a steel manufacturer in Sichuan province, in the case, but that indictment stalled after a U.S. judge ruled that prosecutors' attempts to notify Pangang of the charges were legally insufficient.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is United States of America v. Walter Liew et al., No. 11-cr-573.