4 Arrested in Scheme to Get Fiber Secrets

Four former Du Pont Co. employees were arrested Monday in Switzerland after an attempt to extort $10 million from the chemical giant in exchange for documents on the production of spandex synthetic fiber, authorities said. A fifth former employee remained at large.

The arrests in Geneva followed an aborted meeting at which Du Pont was to pay $10 million to the suspects in exchange for “sensitive documents” concerning the production of Lycra, Du Pont’s trade name for spandex, according to Joseph V. Corless of the FBI.

The suspects, all Argentines, had agreed to sign a contract saying they would not produce spandex fibers for five years, Corless said.

The suspects had threatened to sell the documents to a Du Pont competitor or begin producing spandex on their own if they were not paid, Corless said.

Spandex is used primarily in clothing, such as swimming suits, leotards and panty hose.

“Had the intellectual property described not been recovered, the company’s business performance would have been threatened and the jobs and livelihoods of many of our people jeopardized,” Du Pont spokesman John R. Malloy said at company headquarters in Wilmington.

Possibly Copies

“The information was very valuable and probably would have enabled them to set up a competing plant,” Malloy said.

Corless said the documents were recovered, but admitted there were no guarantees that copies had not been made.

“We still have a lot of investigating to do,” he said.

The five suspects had all worked at the Du Pont plant in Mercedes, Argentina, one of several plants that make spandex. Four of the five had quit about six months before Du Pont was contacted in December, 1988, about the documents.

Those arrested were identified as Bruno Skerianz, age unknown, who worked there about 20 years ago; Raul A. Giordano, 36, operations supervisor for Lycra production; Antonio R. Inigo, 39, maintenance supervisor for Lycra production, and Maria I. Lorenzo de Bianchini, 39, secretary of the Lycra information office.

Corless said De Bianchini had the most access to the documents.

A warrant was issued for Jose M. Petrosino, 44, specialist engineer for Lycra processing, who remained at large. He had worked at the plant for 13 years.

Met Several Times

All of the suspects have been charged with one count each of attempted extortion and if convicted, face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to William Carpenter, assistant U.S. attorney for Delaware.

After the suspects contacted Du Pont, several meetings were held in and outside the United States, and about 20 telephone calls were made to negotiate about the information, Corless said. Skerianz met with Du Pont officials in Wilmington and offered to sell the company certain spandex technology, the FBI said.

Corless said Skerianz refused to bring the documents to the United States, but Du Pont officials verified their authenticity at a meeting in Milan, Italy, in January.

Corless said Skerianz was the apparent ringleader and recruited the other suspects while they were still working for Du Pont.