The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday (August 24) that Chih-Yee Jen, a former engineer at Philips Medical Systems, has been found guilty by a federal jury in Chicago. He was charged with conspiring to steal Philips’ X-ray technology trade secrets and providing them to the Chinese competitor Kunshan GuoLi Electronic Technology Co. Ltd.
After a week of trial, the jury rendered the above verdict on Friday (August 21). The 71-year-old Jen was found guilty on two charges, including conspiracy to steal, embezzle, or possess trade secrets, and possession or attempted possession of stolen trade secrets.
Jen, who hails from Mequon, Wisconsin, had worked at Philips’ facility in Aurora, Illinois, where the facility primarily developed and manufactured proprietary X-ray tubes for computed tomography (CT) medical imaging machines. Through its Dunlee brand, Philips has been dedicated to researching and developing proprietary X-ray technology and selling related equipment for many years.
In 2017, as Philips was preparing to close the facility, Kunshan GuoLi and its vice president Xiaoqin Du contacted Jen with a plan to establish a subsidiary in the U.S. to help Kunshan GuoLi compete with Philips in the research, manufacturing, and sales of X-ray tubes.
While still employed at Philips, Jen began sharing confidential documents with Kunshan GuoLi and Du, and successfully recruited several of his Philips engineering colleagues to join the Kunshan GuoLi subsidiary.
Jen copied proprietary X-ray trade secret information from Philips’ internal database and utilized this stolen information in his new job developing related technology for the Kunshan GuoLi subsidiary.
The sentencing date for Jen has been set for January 5, 2027, by U.S. District Court Judge Edmond E. Chang.
In the same case, two other former Philips engineers, 57-year-old Fince Tendian and 77-year-old Vladimir Nevtonenko, have admitted to possessing stolen trade secrets before trial, and their judgments will be announced on December 8, 2026, and December 1, 2026, respectively.
Additionally, Chinese resident Xiaoqin Du, aged 64, along with Kunshan GuoLi and the related company Kunshan Yiyuan Medical Technology Co. Ltd., have been indicted and are currently on the court’s wanted list, awaiting apprehension for prosecution.
Andrew S. Boutros, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counterintelligence Division, both emphasized that stealing trade secrets is a serious economic crime that severely damages U.S. employment and technological advantages. Law enforcement agencies will continue to vigorously combat such behavior to uphold national economic security.