C&EN coverage of the Xiaorong You conviction

From C&EN's Craig Bettenhausen, coverage of the Xiaorong You case:  

Xiaorong (Shannon) You, formerly a senior R&D chemist at Coca-Cola and Eastman Chemical, was convicted last week in Greeneville, Tennessee, of stealing trade secrets related to bisphenol A (BPA)–free beverage can liners. Prosecutors say You took intellectual property valued at $120 million from Coca-Cola and seven chemical companies, intending to give it to a Chinese polymer firm in exchange for an ownership stake and cash payments.

You, 59, was a principal engineer for global research at Coca-Cola from December 2012 through August 2017, when Coca-Cola fired her. She went to work for Eastman the following month. Eastman fired her in June 2018 and recovered a hard drive at her home containing trade secrets from Eastman, Coca-Cola, AkzoNobel, BASF, Dow, PPG Industries, Toyochem, and Sherwin-Williams.

During You’s employment at Coca-Cola, the beverage maker was testing BPA-free can liners from several chemical and coatings companies. Some were epoxies made without BPA, like Sherwin-Williams’s valPure V70, which uses tetramethyl bisphenol F. Others were based on polyolefins and other types of plastic.

Because she was deemed a flight risk, she's been in prison since February 14, 2019. That's a long time to be in prison, and it seems likely she'll be spending even more time.