Ex-GM Engineer on Trial for Trade Secret Theft

A U.S. court in Detroit has begun hearing the case against former General Motors Co. electrical engineer Shanshan Du and her husband Yu Qin, who are accused of stealing trade secrets and trying to sell them to a Chinese carmaker.

The Dept. of Justice charges that in 2003 Du began to use her job on GM's hybrid vehicle project to copy proprietary information about electric drive systems. She allegedly passed her husband about 16,300 documents, including hybrid data the company values at $40 million.

The U.S. attorney claims Qin sent e-mails and held meetings about peddling the information to Chery Automobile Co. It is unclear whether the data were ever shown to a carmaker or sold.

The couple was indicted in July 2010 on charges of trade theft, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Both have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they could face a $250,000 fine and as many as 20 years in prison.