United States of America v. Yu Xue, a/k/a Joyce

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal law lawyer represented defendant charged with Defendant charged with theft of trade secrets.



Defendant Yu Xue was formerly a scientist at

pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK”). While

still employed at GSK, Xue formed a pharmaceutical company

with defendant Tao Li and others and proceeded to steal a

number of GSK documents containing trade secrets. Xue and

Li each pled guilty to a single count of conspiracy to steal trade

secrets, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(5). The

Government, at sentencing, requested that the District Court

apply an enhancement under the United States Sentencing

Guidelines (the "Guidelines” or "U.S.S.G.”) based on the

"loss” attributable to the defendants' conduct. While it is

undisputed that GSK did not suffer an actual monetary loss as

a result of the trade secret theft, under the commentary to

U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1, the definition of "loss” also includes losses

that the defendants intended. The District Court, however,

declined to apply an enhancement based on the intended loss

amount, finding that the Government failed to establish the

defendants purposely sought to inflict a pecuniary harm on the

victim, GSK.



The Government appeals and challenges the District

Court's decision not to apply the enhancement.



https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/212227p.pdf

Affirmed