In 2019, Tesla acquired a Canadian company called Hibar Systems. One of the employees of this company had the bad idea of stealing industrial secrets belonging to the Austin firm. After making $1.3 million by reselling them, he has just been sentenced to two years in prison.
Klaus Pflugbeil thought he had it all figured out: steal industrial secrets from Tesla, resell them to hit the jackpot and disappear to China. But his plan didn’t go as planned. The former employee of Elon Musk’s company now faces two years in prison. He was arrested when he tried to sell documents to an undercover FBI agent. On the other hand, his partner would still be on the run.
The prosecutor demands 2 years in prison
Arrested in March 2024, Klaus Pflugbeil has just been tried. According to the Ministry of Justice, the man would have “ set up a business in China to sell sensitive technologies belonging to an American company “. That’s a sanitized way of saying that he and his partner hatched a plan to sell trade secrets and hope no one in the United States would notice. But obviously the FBI noticed.
According to the United States Attorney, “ Today’s sentencing sends a clear message to potential offenders: Our nation’s justice system will do everything in its power to protect American innovation and national security, no matter where you try to hide “. The two men had notably stolen information about the battery assembly lines manufactured by Tesla.
They traveled to trade shows and sent emails to try to sell company secrets. They even openly stated that their products do not infringe any patents, copyrights or other intellectual property. Failed!
The rest of your content after this announcement
The rest of your content after this announcement
Business
