Coca-Cola Chemist Gets 14 Years for Passing Can Secrets to China

A chemist who worked at Coca-Cola Co. was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison for stealing trade secrets related to a BPA-free coating for the inside of cans and passing them to a Chinese company.

Xiaorong You, a Pennsylvania woman also known as Shannon You, was convicted by a Tennessee jury in April 2021 of stealing eight trade secrets owned by various entities, economic espionage, and wire fraud. She sold the stolen confidential information to Weihai Jinhong Group, which was backed by the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents program to recruit leading experts in research and innovation.

Evidence showed that ...