Linwei Ding joined Google in 2019 and worked on the infrastructure behind its AI supercomputers: the TPU chips, the GPU systems, and a custom network card called Diorite. Between May 2022 and May 2023, according to the government, he took 1,255 Google documents, more than fourteen thousand pages, by screenshotting them into Apple Notes, converting the notes to PDFs, and uploading them to a personal cloud account. Meanwhile he was secretly working with a Chinese company and building his own AI startup, Zhisuan, pitching himself as the architect of Google's technology. Built from the court record, this episode covers how the method got around Google's security systems, the fake product demo and the fake executive reference prosecutors say he used to win over a startup accelerator, the self-deletion affidavit he signed six days before downloading every file again, and the intern who swiped his badge while he was in China and lost her job for it. We explain the difference between theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, what makes something a trade secret, Chinese talent programs, and how a judge can overturn a jury's verdict. In January 2026 a jury convicted Ding on all fourteen counts. On August 20, 2026, Judge Vince Chhabria acquitted him of the seven economic espionage counts, finding the evidence of intent to benefit the Chinese government came months after the charged uploads. The seven theft-of-trade-secrets convictions stand. He was sentenced to twelve months minus one day, two years of supervised release, a $2,500 fine and $189,098.01 in restitution. The government has appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Sourced from court filings, DOJ releases, and public reporting; inferences are identified as such. Narrated using AI-generated voices.

Nathan Vilas Laatsch worked in the Defense Intelligence Agency's Insider Threat Division, where part of his job was turning on the monitoring that watches people with access to DIA systems. In March 2025 he emailed a friendly foreign government under the subject line "Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer," offering classified intelligence. The FBI took over the other side of the conversation.

Built from the FBI affidavit, the statement of facts and the plea agreement, this episode follows him in his own words: why he said he was doing it, why he copied documents by hand to get around the monitoring he helped run, the folded notes in his socks and lunchbox that DIA's cameras recorded, the dead drop in an Arlington park, his request for citizenship instead of money, and his confidence that nobody could open a case on him without his knowing. We explain insider threat programs, special access programs, dead drops and tasking, and why sending secrets to an ally is the same crime as sending them to an adversary.

Laatsch pleaded guilty on August 26, 2026, to attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign government. The maximum is life; under the plea agreement he will ask for no less than 11 years and the government for no more than 18. Sentencing is set for January 27, 2027. Sourced from court filings, DOJ releases, and public reporting. Narrated using AI-generated voices.

Dingwei Chen, a twenty-nine-year-old Chinese national, set out to buy ten military-grade satellite modems that U.S. law forbids sending to China. His network wired about $42,000 to a Swiss firm's American subsidiary, talked about shipping through Switzerland, Saipan and Mexico, and praised cold-wallet crypto as "private and untraceable." Then the deal was handed to a new contact: an HSI undercover agent working out of Utah.

Built from the federal criminal complaint, this episode follows Chen in his own words: "Yeah, we know, we know" when told the deal was illegal, a wish list that included B-1B bomber countermeasures, and his worry that the seller might be FBI or CIA. We explain how export controls actually work (the Arms Export Control Act, ITAR and the U.S. Munitions List), why roughly $32,000 in crypto went straight into a government wallet, and how a travel booking confirmed who was getting on the plane to Saipan.

Chen pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act on August 10, 2026. Sentencing is set for October 19, 2026; the statutory maximum is twenty years. Sourced from court filings, DOJ releases, and public reporting. Narrated using AI-generated voices.