Trade Secrets to India

On Jun. 3, 2013, Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, an Indian citizen with a work visa and an alien registration card, was sentenced in the District of Utah to time served, 30 days supervised release, $100 SPA and $3,435.25 in restitution. Previously, on Apr. 11, 2012, Mohapatra was charged in a 26 count Superseding Indictment with theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and attempt, and computer-related fraud. On May 11, 2012, Mohapatra pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer. The remaining 25 counts of the Superseding Indictment were dismissed on the government’s motion. On Nov. 14, 2011, Mohapatra was arrested on a criminal complaint in the District of Utah (filed on Nov. 10, 2011) charging him with stealing proprietary information from his employer, Frontier Scientific, Inc., a Utah scientific company, and providing it to a relative in India who was starting up a competing company. According to the charges, Mohapatra worked as a senior scientist for Frontier Scientific, Inc., a company that makes large pure quantities of an organic chemical, 2,2′-dipyrromethane, that has several applications, including as an ingredient in new drugs, as well as in solar cells and batteries. The complaint alleged that Mohapatra emailed proprietary information from Frontier Scientific about the chemical to his brother-in-law in India, who was setting up an unregistered, competing company called Medchemblox. The complaint further alleged that Mohapatra had a financial interest in Medchemblox. This investigation was conducted by FBI.