A chemical engineer from Sunnyvale, Texas took more from his former employer than a year’s worth of experience. According to an article from The Dallas Morning News, Dr. Mattias Tezok was ordered to pay $4 million for stealing trade secrets from Voltaix, LLC and using them to get his own business off the ground.
Tezok reportedly plead guilty to four counts of unlawful possession of a trade secret. According to the article, Tezok downloaded files from Voltaix that contained a "confidential, proprietary, and trade secret recipe and process for manufacturing and purifying high-purity germane gas,” onto his home computer. Germane gas is a chemical used in the solar energy and semiconductor industries. Tezock is required to cease any business related to his company, Metaloid Precursors, Inc., and remove all equipment related to the manufacture of germane gas. He also received five years probation and is prohibited from working in specialty chemicals for the next five years, according to the article.
Read the entire article here.
