Cree Employee Charged With Stealing Company Secrets Worth More Than $100 Million
DURHAM, N.C. – An employee of a worldwide company based in Research Triangle Park is accused of stealing thousands of documents full of sensitive information and intellectual property worth more than $100 million.
Coy Bell, 47, is charged with larceny by employee, and allegedly stole those secrets from his employer, Cree, Inc. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ and is known for being a market-leading innovator in LED lighting.
In an affidavit obtained by the ABC11 I-Team, investigators with the Durham County Sheriff’s Office report Bell downloaded the classified files from his company computer onto an SD card.
Bell’s attorney, Hart Miles, told the I-Team his client is a military veteran who first joined Cree in 1997. “Our expectation is that Bell will be cleared of any wrongdoing,” Miles stressed. “There’s no evidence that he sold or attempted to sell anything like what they allege.”
The investigation began on May 4 when another Cree employee found the card laying on a sidewalk at the Cree campus. According to the affidavit, Cree’s IT department determined the card was last used on Bell’s work computer, where more than 32,000 files were transferred.
Further investigation found surveillance video showing Bell “holding a small object” like an SD card and inserting it into his computer.
A Durham County search warrant states Bell could have given the files to “a competitor or foreign entity.” Deputies seized his phone and sought access to at least one dozen other related items. Bell was arrested on June 18. He was released after posting a $150,000 secured bond.
Read more at abc11.com
Find more details at Security Info Watch
Not the first time Cree had insider problems:
2016: Cree Employee Illegally Accessed and Altered Files
DURHAM, N.C. — A Cary woman has been charged with illegally accessing and altering computer files at Durham-based LED manufacturer Cree Inc., according to an arrest warrant.
Huili Cui, 50, of 521 Denhoff Drive, is charged with felony accessing computers and larceny by employee. She was initially held in the Durham County jail under a $1 million bond following her Wednesday arrest, but that was lowered to $100,000 on Friday.
According to an arrest warrant, Cui began accessing Cree documents, files and client lists through the company’s computer system in April and took confidential information and modified it without authorization. The warrant also states that Cui took the documents and data with the intention of stealing from Cree.