Man sentenced to prison for stealing Tesla secrets, other still at large

One man has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing Tesla secrets and trying to sell them while his co-conspirator is reportedly still at large.

Earlier this year, we reported that two men were charged with stealing trade secrets from Tesla and selling them.

Today, the Department of Justice announced that one of the two men charged, Klaus Pflugbeil, has received a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty.

Today, in federal court in Central Islip, Klaus Pflugbeil was sentenced by Judge Joan M. Azrack to 24 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to send trade secrets that belong to a leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company (Victim Company-1).  Pflugbeil, a resident of the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC” or “China”) and a Canadian and German national, and his co-defendant, Yilong Shao, who remains at large, are owners of a PRC-based business (Business-1) that sold technology used to make batteries, including batteries used in electric vehicles.  Pflugbeil and Shao, former employees of a company that was purchased by Victim Company-1, took trade secrets from their employer, and later used the trade secrets to build a business that they marketed as a replacement for Victim Company-1’s products

As we previously reported, while the DoJ hasn’t disclosed the names of the companies involved, everything points to Tesla and its acquisition of Canada’s Hibar Systems.

Pflugbeil and Shao worked for Hibar and even worked for Tesla.

They ended up setting up a new company to produce extremely similar precision dispensing pumps and battery assembly lines to those of Hibar, which was now producing for Tesla.

The theft was quite brazen as they went as far as buying ads to advertise that they were selling Tesla technology.

Eventually, they got caught by undercover agents who pretended to be interested in buying the technology from their newly set up company.

They reportedly made over $1.3 million from the new company before being caught.

According to the DoJ, Shao is still at large.