Why Is U.S. Attorney's Office Devoting Valued Government Resources Fighting Lilly's Trade Secret Battles Instead Of Public Corruption Cases?

The much ballyhooed public corruption task force of U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett has apparently hit the Great Wall of China. Yesterday he stepped before TV cameras to boast of an unusual prosecution his office has brought against two former Eli Lilly scientists charged with stealing the company's trade secrets. The two Chinese immigrants, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, may not have even profited from their alleged crimes Hogsett was forced to admit to reporters but have been denied bail in the case despite their long-time presence in the U.S. They are accused of passing along drug discovery secrets related to cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes to a competitor in China in a way that amounted to "traitorous behavior." The Star's Jeff Swiatek has the reaction of their attorneys to the indictments:

The two bespectacled scientists, cuffed and manacled and wearing black-and-white striped prison jumpsuits, listened to the two-hour court proceedings without saying a word. A judge ordered them held in custody, refusing to release them on bail.

The 20-page indictment says that Guoqing Cao and Shuyu “Dan” Li, who are both Indianapolis-area residents, passed on the proprietary Lilly information to Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. in Shanghai, one of China’s largest drug companies. Jiangsu Hengrui competes with Lilly in China and recently won approval to market an injectible drug in the United States . . .

The indictment says the two scientists transferred the Lilly trade secrets electronically. In one case, the indictment says, Li sent Lilly PowerPoint presentations that divulged three trade secrets to Cao at Jiangsu Hengrui . . .

But Scott Newman, the attorney for Li, told U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Mark Dinsmore that some of the trade secrets listed in the indictment sounded more like “vague notions” and not like “crown jewels,” as a Lilly scientist called the company’s trade secrets in court testimony . . .

Dinsmore ordered both Li and Cao held in custody until trial or the entering of a guilty plea, denying their requests to be released on bail.

Newman called Li a “valued member of the community” with a wife and two children who live in the Indianapolis area. Li once was honored by Lilly for his donations to the United Way, Newman said.

Cao’s attorney, David Hensel, argued unsuccessfully for bail for Cao, saying Cao and his wife offered to put up their $300,000 Carmel house as security.

Meanwhile, the fleecing of the public by corrupt government officials goes on unchecked.