Chinese Professor Faces Rare U.S. Economic Espionage Trial

  • Hao Zhang accused of stealing U.S. company secrets for China
  • Emails, admissions make for an ‘overwhelming’ case, U.S. says
Hao Zhang arrives at federal court in San Jose on Oct. 2.Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg
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U.S. prosecutors say Hao Zhang is a professor-spy who conspired with a colleague from the University of Southern California to steal and sell American secrets to the Chinese government and military through a shell company in the Cayman Islands.

Zhang’s lawyers will try to show at a trial set for Wednesday that his work at one of China’s most prestigious technical universities to develop radio-filtering technology used in mobile phones has always been about advancing scientific knowledge -- and not for the benefit of the Chinese state.