Apple has 'deep concerns' that ex-employees accused of theft will flee

Apple Inc on Monday told a federal court it has "deep concerns" that two Chinese-born former employees accused of stealing trade secrets from the company will try to flee before their trials if their locations are not monitored.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, prosecutors argued that Xiaolang Zhang and Jizhong Chen should continue to be monitored because they present flight risks.

Both men were arrested on criminal trade secrets theft charges while heading to airports to fly back to China and have been monitored after being released on bail. Their defense attorney said Monday that both men had family reasons to visit China and had shown no signs of violating their pre-trial conditions so far.