UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. YANJUN XU - Articles

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. YANJUN XU

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Aug 7, 2024

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Justine A. Harris, SHER TREMONTE LLP, New York, New York, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Kevin Koller, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellee.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Justine A. Harris, Katie Renzler, SHER TREMONTE LLP, New York, New York, for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Kevin Koller, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellee.

Judge(s): BATCHELDER, STRANCH, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Cincinnati

DAVIS, Circuit Judge. Yanjun Xu, a Chinese citizen and member of China’s Ministry of State Security (an intelligence organization), was convicted of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and conspiracy to steal trade secrets from multiple aviation companies over a five-year period. Xu was also convicted of attempted economic espionage by theft or fraud and attempted theft of composite fan-blade technology from GE Aviation. Xu was sentenced to a combined 240 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Xu seeks to have the judgment vacated and the case remanded to the district court for a new trial. He argues that the district court erred in failing to dismiss Counts 1 and 2 in the indictment as duplicitous, and that the district court abused its discretion in admitting expert testimony in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 704(b). In the alternative, Xu seeks to have his sentence vacated, arguing that it was both procedurally and substantively unreasonable. We affirm the district court’s judgment.

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