Chinese Spy Convicted with Help from iCloud Backup: Report
A Chinese spy carrying out industrial espionage against GE Aviation and Honeywell’s aerospace division was caught with the help of access to an iCloud backup of his iPhone, media reports say.
The data obtained included a never-before-seen copy of a security form used by the Chinese security service when recruiting spies, citing Bloomberg, 9To5Mac reported.
Xu Yanjun, an officer in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) was arrested and brought to trial in the US after investigators lured him out of the country to a meeting in Belgium, from where he was extradited to the US.
Missouri Woman Sentenced for $1.3M Theft, Tax Scheme
Long was employed by Executive Coach Builders, Inc. to provide in-house accounting services to the company and to Executive Bus Builders, Inc. The companies are headquartered in Springfield but do business worldwide with factories and sales offices in Missouri and California. The companies build luxury buses, coaches, and limousines. Long was hired in April 2014.
Long admitted that she stole at least $362,175 from the companies from February 2016 to September 2020. Long also admitted that she failed to pay approximately $902,226 of employment taxes the companies owed to the IRS. By not making these payments, Long created a pool of funds in the companies’ bank accounts from which she continued her embezzlement scheme.
Former Township Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $150K
Baun was formerly employed as the secretary and treasurer for Jackson Township, Pa. Prosecutors say between 2011 and 2019, she took at least $150,000 from the township by making unauthorized ATM withdrawals and by charging personal purchases on Amazon to the Township’s debit card.
Big Law Recruiter Ordered to Pay $3.6 Million to Former Employer
A federal judge in Austin, Texas, on Thursday ordered Evan Jowers to pay the award to MWK Recruiting, an Austin-based company now known as Kinney Recruiting. Jowers stole MWK candidates and placed them at firms shortly after leaving the company, MWK alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2018.
The court ordered Jowers to pay $3 million for breach of contract, as well as $515,000 for misappropriation of trade secrets, about $42,000 in loans, and attorney fees and interest that have yet to be calculated.
Play It Again and Again (Sam): Meanwhile No Injunction, No Fees
In an earlier appeal in this case, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a ruling on trade secret misappropriation rendered by the district court in favor of AcryliCon USA (AC-USA) and vacated the damages award. An aspect of the Court’s ruling was that the “permanent” injunction entered by the district court was only preliminary in nature (not permanent) and was, as a matter of law, dissolved because the district court did not include it in the original final judgment. On remand, the district court was ordered to determine the appropriate amount of attorneys’ fees the prevailing party should receive. However, the district court just entered the same amount of attorneys’ fees it had originally awarded and again entered a “permanent” injunction barring the use of the trade secret at issue, concluding that it was obliged to do so by the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling in the first appeal.
Update On Lawsuit Against Vince McMahon, Rock, WWE & More Over ‘Trade Secrets’
A new report has the latest on the lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon, WWE, The Rock, ESPN and more alleging the sharing of “trade secrets” in connection to the XFL. As was reported back in July, David Adrian Smith filed suit against McMahon, WWE, Dani Garcia, ESPN, Dwayne Johnson, Dick Ebersol, WWE Chief Financial Officer Frank Riddick, Riddick’s wife Carol and others alleging that all parties involved have been made privy to, used, and/or shared “disclosed confidential trade secret information” throughout the creation of the most recent XFL as well as the new, upcoming version.