David Yen Lee, former Arlington Heights resident, has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets, valued between $7 million and $20 million, from a local paint manufacturing company where he worked as a chemist. Lee had worked at Valspar Corp. between 2006 and March 2009, resigning without notice to take a job with a company called Nippon Paint in Shanghai. At Valspar, Lee's responsibilities included overseeing experiments for paint coloring and scouting new paint technologies.
Lee admitted to downloading almost 160 secret formulas for paints and coatings. He also admitted to taking other internal documents and data from Valspar's offices in Wheeling. The thefts took place between November 2008 and March 2009. (Source: Wailin Wong, Chicago Tribune, Sep 1, 2010).