The story revolves around Dr. Shannon Yo, a chemical engineer for Coca-Cola who was arrested by the FBI. She was found with a briefcase containing $4,000 and was suspected of planning to flee the country. The FBI interrogation led to her confession of stealing 120 million dollars worth of trade secrets, which she had on her hard drive.
Dr. Yo was a chemical engineer for Coca-Cola, responsible for evaluating the coatings that went inside all of the company's cans. The chemical formulas for these coatings were a closely guarded secret and cost an estimated 120 million dollars to develop. No Chinese company had managed to develop an equivalent, and Dr. Yo had the formulas on her hard drive.
She had never shared any technology with anyone in China, but she had been going back to China to interview for the Thousand Talents program, a Chinese national government program designed to incentivize ethnic Chinese who have moved abroad to return to China and start businesses there. The program is criticized for being a multi-billion dollar scheme that incentivizes people to steal foreign technology and bring it home with them.
The FBI alleges that Liu Zhang Chen, the chief engineer for the We Hide Jin Hong group, had been helping Dr. Yo's application. The company wanted to get into the business of making the chemical lining for Coke cans. The interrogation was a master class in how to unravel a scheme like this, as at almost every stage, the FBI caught Dr. Yo in a lie.
Dr. Yo insisted that all she ever did was to introduce the Chinese firm to some other companies interested in getting into the business. Unfortunately for her, the FBI had a copy of the contract, which included her responsibilities as the chief technical officer of the project, providing technical assistance, leading the party's research and development team, and communicating with foreign manufacturers and developing new overseas joint ventures.
The FBI agents revealed their hand, revealing how she knew that joining the Thousand Talents might invite the FBI's attention. They had their voicemails and had read her text messages, outlining how she knew that joining the Thousand Talents might invite the FBI's attention.
In the end, Dr. Yo was prosecuted not based on whether she shared it with the Chinese government or not, but on whether she took it. Her messages revealed that the end game of this was to share that information and launch this company in China and get rich. This is a tale about stealing Coke's other secret formula but it's also about how China is incentivizing espionage far beyond the realms of Defense technology and National Security and into the furthest reaches of the economy.
1. The individual in question, referred to as "Dr. Shannon yo", was a chemical engineer for Coca-Cola. She was responsible for evaluating the coatings that went inside all of the cans that Coca-Cola makes. These coatings protect the can from the coke and prevent the chemicals in soda from eroding the can [Document(page_content="00:01:00.96: Dr Shannon yo was a chemical engineer\n00:01:02.40: for Coca-Cola she evaluated the Coatings\n00:01:07.32: that went inside all of the cans that\n00:01:09.78: Coca-Cola makes what these formulations\n00:01:12.18: do is they actually protect the can from\n00:01:15.90: the coke they prevent the chemicals in\n00:01:19.74: soda from eroding the can that they're\n00:01:22.38: in for the companies that make it like\n00:01:24.36: BASF Dow Chemical and axo Nobel the\n00:01:27.60: chemical formulas are a closely guarded\n00:01:29.64: secret they cost an estimated 120\n00:01:32.16: million dollars to develop so far no\n00:01:34.98: Chinese company has managed to develop\n00:01:36.84: an equivalent and yo has the formulas on\n00:01:39.84: her hard drive\n00:01:40.98: I have never shared any technology with\n00:01:44.46: anybody in China")].
2. Dr. Shannon yo was arrested by the FBI after she was found with a briefcase containing four thousand dollars. The FBI suspected she was about to flee the country [Document(page_content="00:00:10.20: now this is Dr Shannon yo two hours\n00:00:14.70: after she was arrested and when the FBI\n00:00:16.98: picked her up they also found a\n00:00:18.72: briefcase containing four thousand\n00:00:20.52: dollars and suspect she was about to\n00:00:22.26: flee the country")].
3. The FBI interrogation revealed that Dr. Shannon yo was about to talk herself into a 14-year prison sentence for stealing 120 million dollars worth of trade secrets [Document(page_content="00:00:28.32: the then 56 year old might make for an\n00:00:30.48: unlikely spy but nudged by an FBI\n00:00:32.82: interrogator she's about to talk herself\n00:00:35.16: into a 14-year prison sentence for\n00:00:37.56: stealing 120 million dollars worth of\n00:00:39.60: trade secrets in the process the case\n00:00:41.82: will reveal details of how industrial\n00:00:47.16: Espionage has become a Cornerstone of\n00:00:49.14: China's economic growth")].
4. Dr. Shannon yo had been going back to China to interview for the Thousand Talents program, a Chinese national government program designed to incentivize ethnic Chinese who have moved abroad to return to China and start businesses there [Document(page_content="00:01:53.82: the Thousand talents program is a\n00:01:56.58: Chinese national government program and\n00:01:58.92: it's designed to incentivize uh you know\n00:02