Ex-Google Engineer Convicted of Stealing Company's AI Trade Secrets

Former Google engineer Linwei Ding has been convicted on multiple federal charges of stealing AI trade secrets to benefit China-linked companies.
Published: 1/30/2026, 11:56:17 PM EST

A former Google engineer, Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, has been convicted on multiple federal charges of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets to benefit China-linked companies. Prosecutors say he downloaded over 2,000 confidential documents and planned to use the technology to build his own AI startup in China.