Executive charged with stealing secrets

CHICAGO, June 26 (UPI) -- A former manager at a West Virginia paint company has been charged with stealing trade secrets after accepting a job with a Chinese competitor.

A grand jury in Chicago handed up an indictment Tuesday charging David Yen Lee with five counts of violating the Economic Espionage Act. Lee was arrested in April and is free on bail, the Judtice Department said in a news release.

Federal prosecutors say Lee, who had been working for Valspar Corp., based in Wheeling, W. Va., since 2006, agreed last year to begin working for Nippon Paint, based in Shanghai, on April 1, 2009. He allegedly downloaded proprietary information to two thumb drives and removed confidential documents from Valspar's headquarters.

Lee, now living in Great Neck, N.Y., faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted, although the actual sentence is likely to be much shorter.