But I never shared this with anybody. OK. But you took it. That's the problem, OK. That's where we're at right now. This is Dr. Shannon You
two hours after she was arrested, and when the FBI picked her up,
they also found a briefcase containing $4,000 and suspect
she was about to flee the country. The then 56-year-old
might make for an unlikely spy, but nudged by an FBI interrogator,
she's about to talk herself into a 14-year prison sentence for stealing $120 million
worth of trade secrets. In the process, the case will reveal
details of how industrial espionage has become a cornerstone of
China's economic growth. My name is Jordan Robertson, and I'm a cybersecurity reporter for Bloomberg here in London. This story is about
an incentive system that the likes of which the world
has never seen before. was a chemical engineer for Coca-Cola. She evaluated the coatings
that went inside all of the cans that Coca-Cola makes. What these formulations do
is they actually protect the can from the Coke. They prevent the chemicals in soda
from eroding the can that they're in. For the companies that make it
like BASF, Dow Chemical and AkzoNobel, the chemical formulas
are a closely guarded secret. They cost an estimated
$120 million to develop. So far, no Chinese company has managed
to develop an equivalent, and You has the formulas
on her hard drive. I have never shared any technology
with anybody in China, OK. I go back to China because my mom
is in the last stage of her life, and so I took every opportunities
to go to China to see my mom. At the start of the interrogation, You is adamant that she's done
nothing wrong, but she's being a little disingenuous
because she has been going back to China to interview
for the Thousand Talents Program. The Thousand Talents Program
is a Chinese national government program, and it's designed to incentivize ethnic Chinese who have moved
abroad to work or study to return to China
and to start businesses there. The critics of the program say it's
really a multibillion-dollar scheme that incentivizes them
to steal foreign technology and bring it home with them. And this is the guy that the FBI alleges has been helping
her application, He's the chief engineer for Weihai Jinhong Group. And that company wants to get into
the business of making BPA-NI, the chemical lining for Coke cans. Weihai Jinhong did not respond to requests from Bloomberg News for comment. The interrogation is almost a masterclass in how you
unravel a scheme like this, because at almost every stage
the FBI catches her in a lie. The plan was to form a new company. That's what... A joint-venture company? Yeah, that's what, that's what
Mr. Liu was thinking, OK. But it never got there. For her part, You insists that all she ever did
was to introduce the Chinese firm to some other companies interested
in getting into the business. In the interrogation room, this is
where she starts to come unstuck. Did you guys sign a contract? For...? For your work over there? I did, but there was no work. There's no work? Yeah. Right. There’s no work, because my work, basically,
just introduce, I did not do anything. Unfortunately for You,
the FBI had a copy of the contract. Party A Jinhong’s responsibilities
include investing the initial amount of ¥6 million
($865,000) and providing the location, among other preparation work,
which is expected to take one year. This is just talking though. Ms. You, it's not just talking. Look, look at the facts. You signed the contract. Yeah. They said they would pay you. The contract was to help build a lab. They said when
the lab was built, you would have
shareholders in that lab. And then weeks later, you were making emails
inquiring about building a lab. It's not just paper. Then the FBI agents reveal their hand. They have her voicemails
and have read her text messages. In quick succession, they outline how:
she knew that joining the Thousand Talents
might invite the FBI's attention, Liu had suggested that she keep her
job at Coca-Cola to, quote, You didn't want any publicity around
winning the Thousand Talents for fear of alerting US authorities. And the coup de grace?
A voicemail left by her sister. This time, You’s response
is far more muted. Well, I did not do anything. What her messages reveal about that
defense is she was trying to share it. She wanted to get paid first,
and ultimately she was prosecuted not based on whether she shared it
with the Chinese government or not. Did she take it?
That was a central question. And her messages show
that the endgame of this was to share that information and launch
this company in China and get rich. Yes, this is a tale about
stealing Coke's other secret formula, but it's also about how China
is incentivizing espionage far beyond the realms of defense
technology and national security and into the furthest reaches
of the economy. For more on how You was caught, read
the full story on Businessweek.com and follow Bloomberg Quicktake
on your favorite platforms.
