Scientist pleads guilty to stealing secret recipes

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A scientist accused of stealing secret recipes from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer.

The Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/JOw00o ) prosecutors agreed to drop 25 other charges against him in exchange for the plea.

The 42-year-old Mohapatra, who worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011, admitted to accessing a company chemical resource notebook and emailing the recipe for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law's company in India.

Frontier officials say no other company in the world produces the chemical in such large quantities.

Mohapata faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 28.

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Man pleads guilty to stealing company's formulas

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal computer charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer, in exchange for prosecutors dropping 25 other charges against him, the Deseret News reported (http://bit.ly/JOw00o ).

Mohapatra, 42, had worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011. He admitted to accessing a company chemical resource notebook and emailing the formula for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law in India.

Investigators say that relative was setting up a competing company to undercut Frontier Scientific on prices it charges for pharmaceutical chemicals. Frontier Chemical, which supplies chemicals for research and drug discovery, says no other company in the world produces TPP in such large quantities.

The case marked the first time federal authorities filed industrial espionage charges in Utah, according to FBI officials. Until 1996, the theft of trade secrets wasn't a federal crime, and the FBI had spotty success trying to prosecute such cases using other statutes.

Congress then passed the Economic Espionage Act, giving the FBI full authority to pursue the cases. Many companies handle such cases internally, afraid the news will lower their company's stock or send investors fleeing, federal authorities said.

Mohapatra in December pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including computer fraud and theft of trade secrets. He was arrested Nov. 14 and released the same day after his moves were tracked on a company computer.

He was placed on leave Oct. 26 and later confessed his role in a meeting with company executives, according to court documents.

Mohapatra faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 28.

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Man accused of taking trade secrets pleads guilty

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A scientist accused of stealing trade secrets from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer.

The Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/JOw00o ) prosecutors agreed to drop 25 other charges against him in exchange for the plea.

The 42-year-old Mohapatra had worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011. He admitted to accessing a company notebook and emailing the recipe for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law's company in India.

Frontier officials say no other company in the world produces the chemical in such large quantities.

Mohapata faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 28.

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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com

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Ex-Intel employee pleads guilty to theft charges

By Gerry Shih

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former Intel Corp employee who allegedly stole from the chipmaker documents worth hundreds of millions of dollars pleaded guilty on Friday to five counts of wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors in Boston had alleged that Biswamohan Pani, 36, downloaded some of Intel's "most valuable" design and manufacturing documents in June 2008, in his final days as an engineer in a Massachusetts facility.

Intel was not aware at the time of the alleged downloads that Pani had already sought a position and begun working at Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's largest rival in the chip industry.

Pani acted alone and there was no evidence that he was instructed by AMD to carry out the theft - nor was AMD aware of his actions, prosecutors said. In court filings, Intel estimated the company secrets to be worth at least $200 million to $400 million.

AMD fired Pani in 2008.

"AMD was not accused of wrongdoing, and the FBI has stated that there is no evidence that AMD had any involvement in or awareness of Mr. Pani's alleged actions," said Drew Prairie, a spokesman for AMD.

Pani faces up to 20 years in prison on each count, and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 8.

A lawyer for Pani did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Richard Chang)

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