Former Apple employee accused of stealing ‘Apple Car’ secrets pleads guilty

Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple employee who was accused of stealing computer files with trade secrets about Apple’s secretive car division, pleaded guilty in federal court in San Jose on Monday, reports CNET.

In July 2018 the FBI accused him with theft of trade secrets, according to documents filed with the Northern District Court of California. According to a tweet from Oakland-based crime reporter Henry K. Lee, Zhang took secret documents from Apple while on paternity leave, telling authorities that he had placed the data on his wife’s laptop. 

Zhang was charged with theft of trade secrets in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. The trade secrets involved Apple’s autonomous vehicle research; apparently, Zhang planned to give them to his new employers, the China-based XMotors.