Former Intel employee found guilty of stealing trade secrets, moving to Microsoft and misusing the information

A former Intel employee who worked as a product marketing engineer for 10 years was found guilty of taking 4,000 files containing trade secrets in violation of his employment contract when he moved to Microsoft. The federal district court sentenced the former employee to a fine of $34,472 (approximately 5.06 million yen) and two years of probation.

Ex-Intel engineer gets probation for trade secrets theft | kgw.com

Former Intel engineer sentenced for stealing trade secrets for Microsoft - oregonlive.com

Ex-Intel engineer sentenced for sharing secrets with Microsoft — gets two years of probation and $34k fine for stealing 'thousands of files' that may have landed them a new job with the company | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/ex-intel-engineer-sentenced-for-sharing-secrets-with-microsoft-gets-two-years-of-probation-and-usd34k-fine-for-stealing-thousands-of-files-that-may-have-landed-them-a-new-job-with-the-company

District of Oregon | Former Engineer Pleads Guilty to Possessing Trade Secrets of Oregon Semiconductor Manufacturer | United States Department of Justice
https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/former-engineer-pleads-guilty-possessing-trade-secrets-oregon-semiconductor-manufacturer

The defendant was Varun Gupta, who worked as a product marketing engineer at Intel for about 10 years, from July 2010 to January 2020.

According to the complaint, the defendant had signed a contract prohibiting him from disclosing, retaining, or copying trade secrets or confidential information without the company's permission. However, when he left the company in January 2020 to join Microsoft, he illegally copied and took with him approximately 4,000 files containing trade secrets.

In addition, from February to July 2020, the defendants used the confidential information they had taken out, and when Microsoft negotiated directly with Intel, the defendants participated as Microsoft's representatives, accessing product design and pricing information for bulk purchases of CPUs.

Gupta was indicted on December 26, 2024, for possession of stolen trade secrets.

The defendant in this case could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of probation, and prosecutors had sought eight months in prison for the defendant's repeated and intentional access to classified documents.

The defense, meanwhile, described the defendant's actions as a 'serious error of judgment that will permanently jeopardize his industry-leading reputation.' The defense also sought a reduced sentence, citing a civil lawsuit filed by Intel in which the defendant was ordered to pay $40,000 in damages.

U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio sentenced him to two years' probation, ordered him to return to France, and ordered him to pay a $34,472 fine before returning home, which is equivalent to the eight months' jail sentence prosecutors had sought for the unauthorized access.

The defendant is already looking ahead to a new career in the wine industry, studying to obtain a vineyard management qualification and aiming to work as a technical director.