Chinese man admits he broke into MV computers Chinese man admits he broke into MV computers (July 16, 2004)

He has been held in custody for two years

A Chinese citizen has pleaded guilty in federal court in San Jose to a charge of breaking into the computers of a Mountain View software company where he worked to gain confidential business information.

Yan Ming Shan, 34, of Daqing, China, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose on Sept. 7. Shan entered the guilty plea on July 7.

Shan was arrested by FBI agents in September 2002 as he attempted to board a plane to China. He has been held in custody since then because he was deemed a flight risk.

The Mountain View company, 3DGeo Development Inc., develops software that provides three-dimensional images of land to aid oil companies in identifying possible sources of natural gas and oil.

A Chinese company, PetroChina, arranged for Shan to work temporarily for the Mountain View firm in 2002 in order to obtain training in its software.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Jacobs said Shan admitted during the guilty plea that he gained unauthorized access to 3DGeo's computer system with an intent to defraud the company and obtain proprietary software programs and source code.

The crime carries a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison, but the actual sentence will be determined under federal sentencing guidelines.

-- Bay City News

E-mail a friend a link to this story.