I-Team Report: Code Red

March 4, 2009 (WLS) -- When the I-Team first reported on Hanjuan Jin about a year ago, she had been charged with stealing technical secrets from her employer, Motorola, for the purpose of selling them to a competitor in her native China.

This has become even more serious. It's a case of 'code red' as federal authorities have now essentially accused Jin of spying for the Chinese military.

Goudie:"The federal government is saying basically that you're a corporate spy. What about that?
Jin: No I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
Goudie: You're not a spy?
Jin: They made a mistake."

Last spring, when we met Hanjuan Jin near her suburban home, she denied being a technology thief while employed here at Motorola headquarters in Schaumburg.

Indeed, federal prosecutors say Ms. Jin had a more critical role.

According to a superseding indictment, Jin engaged in economic espionage intended to benefit the People's Republic of China.

In the new charges, Jin is accused of possessing Motorola engineering information that would benefit the Chinese military and that in 2006 after stealing top secret Motorola files, schematics and military communication plans she made a bee-line for Beijing.

Goudie: "What were you doing at O'Hare Airport with a one-way ticket to China?
Jin: No, I go to visit my mom; my husband and my mom are China."

Federal prosecutors believe she was coming to Beijing to deliver the goods to the Chinese; because they now say, she also had in her possession, "Chinese military documents containing military telephone communications technology" and "combat use requirements for major tactical technology."

Just steps from boarding a United 747 non-stop to China, a routine check by U.S. customs agents revealed she was carrying $30,000 in cash after declaring she had only $10,000.

Goudie: "Why were you on a one-way ticket?
Jin: Because I can buy it cheaper to China.
Goudie: They say you're a spy.
Jin: They say that but it's not true. They make mistake. They're paranoid. They wrongly accuse me...I have fatal disease.
Goudie: What is the fatal disease?
Jin: I have TB and meningitis."

According to the feds, she also had a laptop computer and data storage devices, more than 1,000 electronic and paper documents.

Jin had worked at Motorola for ten years, mostly as a software engineer.

As the I-Team first reported last June, world renown Motorola touts tight internal security.

Since our report, the communications giant has filed a federal civil suit against Hanjuan Jin and several alleged accomplices, charging that Jin rigged computers outside Motorola to access at least $600 million in corporate secrets.

In its latest filing, Motorola attorneys admit the company is still trying to "learn the full extent" of the damage done in the spy case.

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i-team, chuck goudie

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