Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally said“The defendant stole intellectual property in order to benefit companies in China." 

“Li’s greed allowed him to be used by a Chinese company without regard for the negative implications to the economy or national security of the United States,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is well-aware that China is actively seeking and stealing American intellectual property at a rapid pace and those who willingly hand it over, as Li has done.

According to his plea agreement, from 1996 to 2013, Li worked for a Southern California-based business identified in court documents as “U.S. Company No. 1,” which specialised in precision measuring instruments and metrological technology and equipment. The company designed and sold a range of products such as micrometers, calipers, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and optical measurement systems.

Li worked at U.S. Company No. 1 as a senior software engineer, then as a program manager. From 2013 to 2018, Li worked as chief technologist at a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Company No. 1. During his employment at U.S. Company No. 1 and its subsidiary, Li worked on the development of the source code for one of the company’s software programs, which was considered its proprietary information.

In July 2013, Li signed an employee handbook and confidentiality agreement with U.S. Company No. 1 that required him to turn over all writings, records, files, technology, trade secrets or data containing any proprietary information belonging to the company. The agreement also prohibited Li from copying the company’s proprietary information without written permission.

Li admitted in his plea agreement that he occasionally downloaded the company’s proprietary information onto his personal devices without permission. Li failed to return all the proprietary information belonging to U.S. Company No.1 after its subsidiary terminated his employment in January 2018. 

In February 2018, Li operated a consulting company named JSL Innovations Inc. and in March 2020, he signed an employment agreement with Suzhou Universal Group Technology Co. Ltd., a China-based chain-and-bearing manufacturer. Li continued to work for Suzhou Universal until his arrest in May 2023. During this period, Li continued to knowingly possess U.S. Company No. 1’s proprietary information and – more than once – accessed this information without that company’s authorisation. 

Li admitted that he used the proprietary information for his own economic benefit and that it would injure U.S. Company No. 1’s interests.