A federal judge in Chicago fined Chinese telecommunications company Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. $50 million on Mar. 9 for conspiring to steal proprietary technology from Illinois-based Motorola Solutions, Inc.
The case centers on actions beginning in 2006, when Hytera recruited and hired Motorola employees and directed them to take trade secret information without authorization. The stolen data included source code related to Motorola’s digital mobile radio technology, which the company had developed over years of research and design. According to court documents, Hytera used this information to develop its own products at a much lower cost and competed with Motorola in the digital radio market through 2020.
Hytera pleaded guilty last year in the Northern District of Illinois to conspiracy to steal trade secrets. In addition to the fine, U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. sentenced Hytera to five years of probation with conditions that require maintaining an effective compliance program and annual reporting of that program to the government. The judge also ordered Hytera to pay approximately $214 million in restitution, offset by payments already made as part of a civil judgment.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The Department of Justice’s National Security Division also assisted with the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas P. Peabody and Wesley A. Morrissette.
In connection with the investigation, seven Hytera employees were indicted in 2021 for their alleged roles in stealing from Motorola Solutions. One employee, Gee Siong Kok, pleaded guilty in 2022 and agreed to cooperate with authorities; he is awaiting sentencing while warrants have been issued for six other defendants.
