A one-time engineer for San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute faces federal charges that he defrauded his former employer and supplied sensitive information on U.S. military aircraft to China, the Justice Department alleges.
Authorities arrested Xiaojian Tao, 63, and his wife Yu Lang, aka Laura Long, 63, in Helotes on Tuesday, according to federal officials. Both are accused in a 28-page federal indictment of defrauding SwRI while obscuring their ownership of a consulting firm called Tyletech that competed with the locally based R&D company.
Neither Tao nor Lang was available for immediate comment.
Tao is charged with one count of illegal export of defense articles, one count of unlawful export of commerce-controlled goods and one count of making a false statement with regards to the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), according to the Justice Department.
Tao and Lang also face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud, according to the federal officials. Additionally, the pair face one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and five counts of filing false tax returns. Tao also faces one count of making a false statement and Lang with two counts of making a false statement, according to the Justice Department.
If convicted, Tao faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the export counts and the allegation he made false ECRA statements, according to the Justice Department. Tao and Lang also face up to 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count, five years for each false statement counts and the defrauding the U.S. count. Further, they face up to three years in prison on each of the tax return counts.
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This article appears in Apr 6-19, 2022.
