Former Bridgestone Americas researcher Xiaorong Wang has pleaded not guilty to charges that he stole trade secrets from his former employer in Akron and then lied to federal investigators.
Wang, who lives in Hudson, was released on $25,000 unsecured bail Thursday after entering his plea in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, according to court documents.
His trial is scheduled for 8 a.m. Sept. 25 before Judge James S. Gwin in the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse on West Superior Avenue in Cleveland.
Wang was indicted earlier this month on eight counts of theft of trade secrets and seven false statement accounts, according to court documents. He had pleaded not guilty earlier this year to related charges that he stole trade secrets from Bridgestone America’s Akron technical center. He had been an award-winning researcher at the Akron center since starting there in 1995 with more than 50 patents to his name.
Wang was fired from his Akron job in 2010 on an issue unrelated to the federal charges. The FBI alleges Wang copied computer records of Bridgestone Americas trade secrets including polymer formulas potentially worth millions of dollars and kept them at his home. The FBI has said in court documents it has e-mails showing Wang intended to move to China and start a polymer research center at Suzhou University.
