Trade Secret Theft Conviction: The Post-Script

This is a rarity for our blog - a story regarding, and interview with, a convicted trade secret thief AFTER his conviction.

The Epoch Times has published this very interesting piece regarding Meng Hong, a former employee of DuPont convicted of economic espionage. We reported about this case originally here: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/09/dupont-terminates-then-sues-chinese.html.

This is a sad tale. In 2009, Meng accepted a job with Peking University (PKU), without telling DuPont. Meng sent an e-mail from DuPont to PKU. The e-mail contained a chemical process that contained a DuPont trade secret.

He gave a presentation to Chinese officials to raise money to commercialize organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) research he did at DuPont. He said PKU officials did not give all the funding promised for his job and asked him to raise the rest.

He felt “deeply depressed” about his actions. “I wanted to take my own life,” Meng said.“My wife asked me not to. She asked me to think about the two young children,” he said. Meng has two daughters, 7 and 10 years old. They live in China.

Meng said he speaks with his wife about three times a week. “She still holds on to me when I am guilty and am even forsaken by myself. More than ever, I love her and cherish her.”

He faces his criminal sentencing in September of this year.