ArentFox Schiff Secures Complete Victory in GSK Trade Secrets Appeal

ArentFox Schiff secured a complete victory in an appeal before the Third Circuit, which found our client responsible for $0 of actual or intended loss in a case that the federal government claimed was “one of the largest, if not the largest, theft of trade secrets in U.S. history.”

Our client, a former scientist at GlaxoSmithKline, was arrested in 2016 after setting up a pharmaceutical company in China and misappropriating some company documents that contained trade secrets. She was charged in a 45-count indictment. ArentFox Schiff negotiated a plea to a single count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets, but refused to agree that the client caused an actual loss or intended to cause a loss for purposes of sentencing.

On the loss amount, the ArentFox Schiff team maintained that most of the information was publicly available and of no real value. The government claimed an intended loss amount of $1 billion and appealed a district court decision that found no actual or intended loss and no evidence that our client intended to cause harm to GlaxoSmithKline. The Third Circuit, in a precedential opinion by Chief Judge Chagares, agreed with ArentFox Schiff and affirmed the district court’s decision.

After six years since her arrest, the ArentFox Schiff team secured this significant victory for our client.

Read media coverage below: 

Reuters

Bloomberg Law (Subscription required)

Law360 (Subscription required)