Two men are accused of starting a business in China using battery manufacturing technology allegedly stolen from Tesla. Klaus Pflugbeil, 58, a Canadian citizen living in Ningbo, China, was arrested on Long Island, where he believed he was meeting businessmen to negotiate the sale of the information, federal authorities said. Yilong Shao, 47, also of Ningbo, remains at large.
Pflugbeil and Shao are charged with conspiracy to transmit trade secrets, which carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The technology in question involves high-speed battery assembly lines using proprietary technology owned by Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles.
The two men previously worked at a Canadian company that developed the technology. Tesla acquired the company in 2019, becoming the sole owner of the technology. Pflugbeil and Shao allegedly set up a company in China, using stolen trade secrets to manufacture battery assembly lines similar to Tesla’s.
In mid-2020, Pflugbeil and Shao expanded their business to locations in Canada, Germany, and Brazil, manufacturing battery assembly lines using the allegedly stolen information. They marketed themselves as an alternative source for these assembly lines, directly competing with Tesla.
Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, condemned the alleged theft, stating, “The defendants set up a company in China, blatantly stole trade secrets from an American company that are important to manufacturing electric vehicles.”
