U.S. v. Pu

Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to 36-month term of incarceration on unlawful possession/transmission of trade secret charges, where said sentence was based in part on Dist. Ct.’s finding that defendant intended to cause $12 million loss to two companies that owned subject trade secrets, where loss figure was based on said companies' costs in developing trade secrets. While Dist. Ct. could potentially base intended loss figure on costs that companies incurred in developing instant trade secrets, Dist. Ct. could not make such finding, since record failed to contain any evidence of defendant’s intent to cause victims any loss. Dist. Ct. further erred in imposing $750,000 restitution order based upon what one company spent on computer forensic analysis and on outside legal counsel it hired to conduct internal investigation to discover defendant’s misconduct, where record failed to contain specific accounting of expenses to justify restitution order.