WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A former DuPont chemist faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets.
Federal authorities said Tuesday that 43-year-old Hong Meng waived an indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets. A federal judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 14.
Authorities said Meng, whose work involved research on organic light emitting diodes, accepted a position at Peking University in China in 2009 without DuPont's knowledge. He then transferred information about Dupont's work with OLED displays to his Peking email account and his personal computer.
Authorities say MENG also lied to investigators about sending DuPont chemical samples, some considered trade secret compounds, to a colleague at Northwestern University with instructions to forward them to China.
