Engineer in Ford theft case may face more charges

A Chinese engineer arrested on suspicion of stealing Ford Motor Co. trade secrets will likely face additional charges after more secret data was found on his computer, U.S. prosecutors said this week.

Xiang Dong Yu was arrested last month when he arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from China on charges that he stole thousands of secret documents detailing Ford designs that prosecutors say were worth millions of dollars.

In court papers filed in Michigan this week, prosecutors said that FBI agents seized a laptop Yu had when he arrived and discovered more Ford trade secret design documents as well as confidential documents from a company they did not identify.

"Based on what was recovered from the defendant's laptop, there is a strong prospect that the defendant will be charged with additional offenses based on the additional trade secret documents of Ford and" the unidentified other company, the document said.

Yu, who had permanent resident status in the United States, has been held in prison without bail since his arrest on five felony counts. Prosecutors asked the court not to release him because they feared he would try to return to China.

The United States has no extradition treaty with Beijing.

"If the defendant is successful in returning to his home in China, the government will never secure the defendant's presence back in the United States to answer to these charges," they said.

BAIL DENIED

His lawyer argued in a court filing that his client was not a flight risk and wanted to "stay and defend against the charges levied against him."

A U.S. judge on Friday denied Yu bail.

Yu, also known as Mike Yu, worked at Ford from 1997 through early 2007. The original indictment accused Yu of taking Ford design documents to help him land a job with Chinese automotive companies as early as 2005.