Varun Gupta, a former engineer, has admitted to possessing trade secrets from his previous employer, a semiconductor manufacturer in Oregon. The guilty plea was entered on Thursday.
Court documents reveal that Gupta worked as a product marketing engineer for the company from July 2010 until January 2020. The company is based in California but has its largest operations in Oregon and is among the world's leading semiconductor producers.
Gupta had signed an agreement prohibiting him from disclosing or retaining proprietary information without authorization. Despite this, he accessed valuable information such as pricing structures and manufacturing capabilities. The company employed several security measures to protect this data.
In January 2020, Gupta resigned to join another technology firm headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Before leaving his position, he downloaded approximately 4,000 files containing trade secrets onto personal hard drives.
From February to July 2020, while working for the new employer in Washington, Gupta accessed these files without permission. He used the confidential information during negotiations with his former employer regarding computer processor purchases.
On December 26, 2024, criminal charges were filed against Gupta for possessing stolen trade secrets. He faces up to ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for August 12, 2025.
The FBI conducted the investigation into this case. It is being prosecuted by William M. Narus and Geoffrey A. Barrow from the District of Oregon's U.S. Attorney's Office and Anand B. Patel from the Criminal Division.