Tulsa Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Aviation Secrets

0:00It's April 2nd. This is Kansas News today, AI-powered stories from your city. A 57-year-old Tulsa man named Jun Ji Zhang just pleaded guilty to lying to Customs agents about smuggling-sensitive aviation secrets to China. He's a naturalized US citizen from China, who worked as a senior engineer at a Wichita Aviation firm, giving him access to proprietary data like blueprints and graphs. Back in 2019, agents stopped him at a Dallas airport as he tried to board a flight to China. He denied having any work files on his personal devices, but a search turned up confidential documents worth over $100,000. That, his employer never authorized him to carry. The whole thing kicked off a year earlier in 2018 when his company tipped off the FBI after spotting suspicious moves during his work trip to China. Officers like him pose real threats to U.S. tech investments, costing companies billions yearly and hitting consumers in the wallet.

1:01Zhang changed his tune during questioning, claiming his boss OKED the files, but the employer shut that down quick. The FBI jumped in right after Customs flagged it, building a solid case on his false statements. Since insing set for July 23rd in Kansas City Federal Court, where guidelines will shape his punishment, cases like this show the Justice Department staying vigilant against IP theft from within.