Chinese national pleads guilty in U.S. court to stealing trade secrets

A Chinese national pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the theft of trade secrets from a U.S. petroleum company that employed him, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Hongjin Tan, 35, stole information from a U.S.-based petroleum company regarding the manufacture of a "research and development downstream energy market product" that is worth more than $1 billion, the department said in a statement.