U.S. charges ex-Apple engineer with stealing self-driving car secrets for China

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it has charged a former Apple Inc engineer with attempting to steal the firm's technology related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China. The case was among five announced on Tuesday aimed at countering alleged efforts to illicitly acquire American technology by nations including Russia, Iran and China. Two of the cases involved what Justice Department officials called procurement networks created to help Russia's military and intelligence services obtain sensitive technology.

The actions were the first announced by a U.S. "strike force" formed in February in part to keep sensitive technologies away from foreign adversaries, though the investigations were launched prior to its creation.

"We stand vigilant in enforcing U.S. laws to stop the flow of sensitive technologies to our foreign adversaries," Matt Olsen, the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told a press conference. "We are committed to doing all we can to prevent these advanced tools from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries."

The former Apple engineer, identified as 35-year-old Weibao Wang, formerly resided in Mountain View, California, and was hired by Apple in 2016, according to an April indictment unsealed on Tuesday.