Stolen Tesla battery technology peddled on YouTube, US says

The US alleges Pflugbeil, and another defendant started selling Tesla’s proprietary battery production technology from their own startup in China.

The owner of a Chinese company accused of stealing Tesla Inc.’s battery assembly line technology, advertised the electric car manufacturer’s product on YouTube and LinkedIn, a federal prosecutor said on Friday.

Klaus Pflugbeil, a Canadian and German national, hoped the scheme could help him reap sales “in the seven figures”, prosecutor Ellen Sise said at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Friday.

The United States alleges Pflugbeil, and another defendant started selling Tesla’s proprietary battery production technology from their own startup in China. Pflugbeil was arrested in Nassau County, New York, Tuesday after attempting to sell the technology to undercover agents posing as Long Island businesspeople, prosecutors said.

Court documents didn’t name the victim company but described it instead as a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, providing further details that matched Tesla. A source familiar with the matter confirmed Tesla is in fact the company from whom the defendants are accused of stealing trade secrets.

“The defendant specifically said he was selling stolen trade secrets on LinkedIn and YouTube,” Sise said. “He specifically mentioned the victim company.”

Pflugbeil was a former employee of Hibar Systems, a Canadian company that sold technology for battery manufacturing that Tesla acquired in 2019. Pflugbeil and his co-defendant had drawings and documents that allowed them to copy the manufacturing process, prosecutors said.

His lawyer, Nicholas Lewin, declined to comment after the hearing. Pflugbeil’s co-defendant, Yilong Shao, remains at large, the US said.

US Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo Friday agreed to release Pfugbeil on $1 million bond secured by $1,50,000 in cash and ordered him to be confined to the Sarasota, Florida home of his aunt and uncle.

Sise had said Pflugbeil faced a possible 10 years in prison if convicted and argued he posed a flight risk because he could flee to China, which has no extradition treaty with the US.