Probation For NJ Man in China Trade-Secrets Case

A Chinese national charged in 2009 with stealing software from his former New Jersey company and selling it to the Chinese government has been sentenced to probation.

Yan Zhu was convicted last April on seven counts of wire fraud.

He was acquitted on counts of conspiracy and theft of trade secrets. The fraud counts each carry maximum 20-year prison sentences.

A federal judge in Trenton on Thursday sentenced Zhu to three years' probation.

Prosecutors contended Zhu took programming source code from a Mercer County-based company that specialized in software for environmental applications. He was alleged to have stolen the proprietary information and sold a modified version to government environmental agencies in China.

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