China-Bound Ex-Apple Engineer Admits to Trade Secrets Theft

  • Robocar worker who planned to join Xpeng pleads guilty in US
  • Judge orders plea agreement to be sealed from public view
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A former Apple Inc. engineer pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he stole proprietary information from the company while preparing to go work for a Chinese startup that makes electric cars with autonomous driving features.

Zhang Xiaolang, who was arrested in July 2018 on his way to catch a one-way flight to China, admitted to a single count of trade-secret theft at a hearing Monday in federal court in San Jose, California, according to the court’s electronic docket.