FBI launched an investigation against an employee of the company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), who is accused of stealing documents regarding the development project electric and autonomous cars of those from Cupertino. Xiaolang Zhang is the name of the person who was hired in 2015 by Apple to work on the Titan car project, focusing on software and equipment for autonomous cars.
Before leaving Apple, Zhang had taken paternity leave, but shortly before actually announcing his departure, he visited the office multiple times, and accessed many internal documents of the project. Zhang announced to those from Apple that he was employed by a Chinese company called Xmotors, focusing on the development of autonomous cars.
The FBI is INVESTIGATING an Apple Employee, here's what he STOLE from the Company
Suspicious of Zhang's visits to the office before leaving, plus an exit interview with many unusual answers to the supervisor's questions, Apple initiated an investigation. Discovering that the employee had accessed sensitive data regarding self-driving car prototypes, and discovering in the video recordings from the offices that Zhang left including some car components, Apple notified the FBI.
"A hardware engineer for Apple's autonomous vehicle development team, Zhang was granted access to confidential company databases, according to the complaint. After he took paternity leave he told Apple in April he was moving back to China to work at Xmotors. Apple grew more suspicious after seeing his increased network activity and visits to the office before he resigned, according to the complaint."
The FBI started the investigation and already interrogated Zhang, who admitted that he had downloaded confidential Apple documents to his wife's laptop, and he was arrested on July 7. Zhang was arrested when he tried to leave for China, where he would not have been extradited, and now he risks a 10-year prison sentence and a $250.000 fine if he is prosecuted and convicted.
