A Florida woman was charged with conspiring to illegally export U.S. technology that is being used in underwater drones. Accordingly, the drones are given to a Chinese state-owned entity.
In a report by Reuters, the woman was identified as Amin Yu, 53 years old from Orlando, Florida. She worked from 2002 to February 2014 to access systems and components used in marine submersible vehicle at the direction of her co-conspirators at Harbin Engineering University in China.
Yu has been charged with 18 counts, including acting as an illegal agent for a foreign government, money laundering, and unlawful export. Yu is accused of fraudulently and knowingly exported materials in violation of the U.S. law. She is a citizen of China and a lawful permanent resident of the United States while she obtained parts not only from U.S. companies but also those in Canada and Europe, Sputnik News reported.
In an email, which is being treated as evidence, Yu said that at least one of the devices she obtained, which is an underwater acoustic locator, will be used on an underwater drone. Receipts show that the woman spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for the parts of the underwater drone over the last few years.
Harbin Engineering University reportedly conducts research and development for the Chinese government as well as military.
The case is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, WFTV 9 reported.
If convicted, Yu will be facing a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count of money laundering and a maximum of 10 years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
This latest case highlights the tension between the United States and China over intellectual property rights. In 2015, the FBI said cases regarding economic espionage rose to 53 percent, majority of which involved Chinese nationals.
