A former Intel employee, who has left for another position with
rival Advanced
Micro Devices, has been charged by federal prosecutors with taking nearly
$1 billion in processor trade secrets from the chip giant, according to
published reports.
The five-count indictment charges that Biswamohan Pani downloaded
about a dozen technical papers from Intel
as he prepared to leave for another job at AMD.
All together, the papers held about $1 billion worth of research and
development secrets, including designs for microprocessors, according
to a Nov. 6 report in the Associated Press.
The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts
and the FBI. Pani’s attorney denied the charges, according to the Associated
Press. If convicted, Pani could face a maximum sentence of 10 years for taking
the trade secrets, plus an additional 20 years for wire fraud.
The indictment was handed down the week of Nov. 3. Pani
appears to have downloaded the documents during a four-day period in June.
In a statement, AMD
spokesman Michael Silverman wrote that Pani is no longer working with AMD.
AMD is cooperating with federal prosecutors
and the FBI. The Associated Press reported that AMD
did not know that Pani took the papers from Intel as he waited to join the
company.
“AMD is cooperating fully
in the FBI investigation into this matter,” Silverman wrote in an e-mail to
eWEEK. “AMD
has not been 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.”
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