BUSINESS

Ex-IBM Corp. employee admits to economic espionage charge

Published Saturday, May 20, 2017 2:09AM EDT

In this July 16, 2013, file photo, an IBM logo is displayed in Berlin, Vt. IBM Corp. reports financial results Tuesday, April 18, 2017. (AP / Toby Talbot, File)

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- An ex-IBM Corp. software developer has pleaded guilty in New York to economic espionage and theft-of-a-trade secret.

Xu Jiaqiang (shoo jee-ah-chahng) entered the plea Friday in White Plains federal court.

Prosecutors say in a release that the 31-year-old onetime Beijing, China, resident stole computer code to benefit the National Health and Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China.

Xu was first arrested in December 2015 in White Plains. Sentencing was set for Oct. 13.

IBM has declined to comment on the case.

Xu had been accused of stealing and converting the company's source code for a piece of proprietary software for his own use. An indictment said he then planned to use it to help the Chinese agency between November 2014 and December 2015.