Press Release

Aviation company employee attempted to take proprietary information to China

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty after lying to U.S. customs officials while attempting to board a flight to the People’s Republic of China with proprietary information belonging to his employer. 

According to court documents, Junjie Zhang, also known as Jeff Zhang, 57, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement. 

Zhang, a naturalized United States citizen originally from China, worked for an aviation company in Wichita. His position as a senior material and process engineer provided him access to confidential data and proprietary information. In 2018, Zhang’s employer reported him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after an incident during a work trip to China where he displayed suspicious behavior. 

In September 2019, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped Zhang at an airport in Dallas, Texas, as he was attempting to board a flight to China. During an interview, agents asked if he had any work-related information on his electronic devices to which he responded, “no”. Zhang told the agents the thumb drive and laptop he carried only contained personal information.  However, when CBP agents examined the devices, they discovered documents belonging to Zhang’s employer marked “Proprietary” and “Confidential” along with graphs and blueprints associated with the aviation company’s work. Zhang then changed his story to say that his employer had given him permission to have the documents. 

CBP alerted the FBI who contacted Zhang’s employer. The company informed the FBI that Zhang was not authorized to have confidential documents on his personal devices or to leave the country with that information.  

“Americans invest heavily into technological research and development. Intellectual property theft causes U.S. companies across numerous sectors to lose billions of dollars a year. Often that cost ultimately falls on consumers. Not only are Internet hackers a risk for this theft but so are insider threats from rouge employees,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. “The Department of Justice works tirelessly to safeguard the hard-earned intellectual property of Americans and their companies from theft.” 

The proprietary data on Zhang’s devices is estimated to be valued at more than $100,000.

Zhang is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23, 2026. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Rask and Taylor Hines are prosecuting the case.

###