A former Apple employee pleaded guilty on Aug. 22 to stealing internal files from the tech giant’s automotive division.
A court filing (pdf) shows that Xiaolang Zhang pleaded guilty to trade secret theft in federal court in San Jose on Monday, facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Zhang’s plea agreement with the U.S. government is under seal, according to the document, while sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14.
The former Apple engineer allegedly downloaded a blueprint related to an autonomous car onto his personal laptop before trying to flee overseas, according to a 2018 criminal complaint filed in federal court….