A California man who was working as a chemical engineer when he sold a secret pigment formula to China for $28 million was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Walter Liew, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, was also fined $28.3 million, The Associated Press reported. A jury convicted Liew in an earlier trial of selling the technology, which is used to make products like cars and paper whiter.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White said from his Oakland bench that Liew had “turned against his adopted country over greed,” AP said.
Liew was arrested in 2011 on charges of espionage and has been behind bars since. Two other DuPont engineers were previously convicted of economic espionage in the case, but one killed himself in 2012, on the same day he was supposed to sign a plea bargain, AP reported.
“There are many things I would have liked to have done differently,” Liew said to the judge, AP reported. “I regret my actions.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.