1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:09,679 Speaker 1: Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and 2 00:00:09,759 --> 00:00:14,000 death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that 3 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:17,199 made them possible. Now, let's get started. 4 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,719 Speaker 2: Coca Cola's namesake syrup for his flagship's soft drink is 5 00:00:31,719 --> 00:00:35,119 one of the most well known trade secrets in food manufacturing. 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,159 You're probably asking why am I talking about Coca Cola. Well, 7 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:44,320 spies aren't only about government and espionage between countries, or 8 00:00:44,359 --> 00:00:49,520 attacks or sensitive national security information. Sometimes it can be 9 00:00:50,359 --> 00:00:54,079 trade secrets, and the beverage giants' other secrets are apparently 10 00:00:54,119 --> 00:00:56,399 a little bit more vulnerable than their biggest trade secret, 11 00:00:56,439 --> 00:00:59,679 their names sake syrup. On April twenty second, the DOJ 12 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:02,439 said that a federal jury in Tennessee the DOJ's Department 13 00:01:02,479 --> 00:01:05,200 of Justice Folks and Tennessee, convicted a Michigan woman of 14 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:09,480 conspiracy to steal trade secrets, economic espionage, and wire fraud 15 00:01:09,519 --> 00:01:13,280 regarding Coke's formulas for its BPA free codings inside it's 16 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:17,439 beverage cans. She was originally indicted in February twenty nineteen. 17 00:01:18,519 --> 00:01:21,280 According to court documents and evidence presented during her twelve 18 00:01:21,799 --> 00:01:25,319 day trials, Shannon you stole the valuable formulation material while 19 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,680 working for the company in Atlanta. The stolen BPA trade 20 00:01:28,719 --> 00:01:32,599 secrets belonged to major chemical and coding makers that include Ascode, Noble, 21 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,239 bs F, and Dow Chemical. It costs almost one hundred 22 00:01:37,239 --> 00:01:39,840 and twenty million dollars to develop court finding show that 23 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,319 you stole the trade secrets to show set up a 24 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,159 new court finding showed that she stole those trade secrets 25 00:01:46,159 --> 00:01:47,959 as I mentioned, to set up a new BPA free 26 00:01:47,959 --> 00:01:51,280 coding company in China. U An, a Chinese corporate partner, 27 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,879 received millions of dollars in Chinese government grants to support 28 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,959 the new company, which ultimately planned to benefit that partner, 29 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,519 the governments of China, the Chinese province of Shandong, and 30 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,599 c Wayhey You was a principal engineer for global research 31 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,400 at Coca Cola for five years until August twenty seventeen, 32 00:02:08,439 --> 00:02:11,599 and then a packaging application developer for Eastman Chemical until 33 00:02:11,599 --> 00:02:14,400 twenty eighteen. The DOJ said. During that time, she was 34 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:17,560 one of a limited number of Coke and Eastman Chemical 35 00:02:17,599 --> 00:02:21,840 employees with access to BPA free trade secrets belonging to 36 00:02:21,879 --> 00:02:25,680 major suppliers. Until recently, BPA was used to coke the 37 00:02:25,719 --> 00:02:28,319 inside of cans and other food and beverage containers to 38 00:02:28,319 --> 00:02:31,840 help minimize flavor loss and prevent corrosion. But due to 39 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,120 its health risks, BPA has since been phasing out as 40 00:02:34,159 --> 00:02:36,919 alternatives have been developed. The DOJ said witnesses when they 41 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,479 impacted chemical encoding companies in the trial testified they're developing 42 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,439 these BPA free alternatives. Was a very expensive and time 43 00:02:43,479 --> 00:02:47,080 consuming process. So again you can see spies aren't only 44 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:54,599 relegated to national security issues, but huge economic security issues 45 00:02:54,599 --> 00:02:55,520 can be implicated.