Judge tosses economic espionage charges against ex-Google AI engineer

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco partially reversed the verdict against former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, acquitting him of all seven economic espionage charges while upholding fourteen theft-of-trade-secrets convictions. Ding had been found guilty of copying about 1,255 internal Google AI documents between spring 2022 and 2023 and uploading them to a personal cloud account, allegedly to benefit a startup he planned with Chinese partners.

The judge ruled the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence that Ding intended to benefit the Chinese government at the time of the uploads, calling the case “too thin” and speculative. He also characterized Ding’s theft as “ad hoc, disorganized and feeble.” Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 1, with potential penalties of up to ten years in prison and $250,000 fines per trade-secret count. Ding’s attorney, Grant Fondo of Goodwin Procter, praised the ruling; a Department of Justice spokesperson did not immediately comment.