Diamond Bar couple charged with conspiring to export sensitive electronics technology to China
A Diamond Bar couple were charged by federal authorities Friday with conspiring to export sensitive electronics technology to China, a crime that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence.
York Yuan Chang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and his wife, Leping Huang, a Chinese national, are accused of working with a government-affiliated technology firm in China to develop electronics that could be used in weapons and other military equipment.
Chang, 53, also known as David Zhang, is being held without bond, while Huang, 49, was released on $1-million bail. The couple own an Ontario technology company, General Technology Systems Integration Inc., that has been exporting technology to China since 1995.
The complaint further alleges that in multiple interviews with federal agents Chang denied that his company was working with China on the project even though he had hired two engineers to develop the technology.
Investigators based their allegations in part on testimony from confidential sources who detailed how the two engineers travelled to Chongqing, China, to give a presentation on the project to Chinese officials. That presentation took place at an entity called the 24th Research Institute, which they described as “a highly secured building with uniformed guards checking all entrants.”
Jan Handzlik, a lawyer for Chang, said there were “numerous errors” in the charges filed in the case, and that his client “acted as a responsible businessman and without criminal intent.”
Handzlik acknowledged that Chang was working on the technology — called analog-to-digital converters — in the U.S., where it is commercially available from major manufacturers such as Texas Instruments Inc. But Handzlik said Chang had no plans to export the product or its specifications to China.
Chang and Huang are scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 1.
