Greek charged with smuggling military tech to Russia in NY

The United States on Tuesday announced charges in five cases involving alleged efforts to steal technology to benefit China, Russia and Iran including a former Apple Inc engineer accused of targeting the company's technology on autonomous systems, including self-driving cars, and then fleeing to China.

The cases detailed at a Justice Department press conference centered on allegations concerning the theft of trade secrets and other technology. Two of the cases involved what US officials called procurement networks created to help Russia's military and intelligence services obtain sensitive technology.

The five cases were the first announced by a US "strike force" formed in February in part to protect sensitive technologies, though the investigations began before it was created.

"We stand vigilant in enforcing US laws to stop the flow of sensitive technologies...