In the Summer of 2021, a former Genentech principal scientist and her husband pled guilty to conspiring to steal trade secrets from the company to help competitors, among other charges. Xanthe Lam and her husband Allen Lam conspired to commit theft of trade secrets by stealing confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information from Genentech.
According to the DOJ, Lam and her husband worked as a team to obtain confidential information from Genentech and pass the information on to competitors, including JHL Biotech, Inc,. a pharmaceutical start-up headquartered in Taiwan. The information intended to help the competitors “cut corners, reduce costs, solve problems, save time, and otherwise accelerate product development timelines.” JHL Biotech employees were told to refer to Xanthe as “Allen Lam” and email her using Allen’s email address, in an attempt to conceal the behavior.
Some of the intellectual property stolen from Genentech related to its cancer drugs Rituxan, Herceptin, and Avastin, as well as its cystic fibrosis inhalation Pulmozyme.
In addition to pleading guilty to the conspiracy charge, Xanthe Lam pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a government agency, and one count of making false statements to a government agency. Allen Lam also pled guilty to four counts of filing false tax returns and one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a government agency.
Both Xanthe Lam and Allen Lam were sentenced to six months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. They were also ordered to pay fines of more than $10,000 each. The deadline to turn themselves in is April 10, 2023, and they will be due back in court on December 5, 2023, for a status report.
Related Case
Two of JHL’s co-founders are also implicated in the case, former CEO Racho Jordanov and former COO Rose Lin. They were former Genentech employees and started the scheme potentially as early as 2008, while still employed by Genentech. Jordanov and Lin faced charges of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft and wire fraud, international money laundering, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Jordanov also faced charges of theft of trade secrets and Lin faced charges of false statements.
Both parties ultimately pled guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and wire fraud. The other charges were dismissed at sentencing. In March 2022, Jordanov was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release (including 9 months in home confinement). Lin was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.