| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 9, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that a criminal information had been filed, charging Robert Scott West with one count of possession of stolen trade secrets, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(3). These charges are the result of a referral by Phillips Lumileds Lighting Company (“Phillips”) and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the information, Phillips is a San Jose, California company that designs and manufactures light emitting diodes (“LED’s”), which may be used for computer displays, liquid crystal display (“LCD”) televisions and general lighting. One of Phillips’ primary products was the Luxeon Rebel line of LED’s. In February 2008, months after he had resigned his position at Phillips as a Senior Product Manager to work for a competitor of Phillips, Mr. West was found in possession of the architecture and product specifications for Phillips’ next generation of Luxeon Rebel surface mountable power LED’s. The information alleges that Mr. West intended to use this information for the benefit of someone other than Phillips.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of possession of stolen trade secrets in violation 18 U.S.C. § 1832(a)(3) is 10 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if appropriate. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
An information contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Largent must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Hanley Chew is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lauri Gomez.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 08 -00709 JW
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