A former engineer in the Orange County office of an East Coast-based semiconductor company surrendered to authorities Friday on federal charges of insider trading based on confidential corporate information.
Yuh-Yue Chen, 52, of Taiwan, who formerly lived and worked in Irvine, was employed as an electrical principal engineer from 2003 until he was fired in September 2014 by Skyworks, a Woburn-Massachusetts-based company that had a design center in Irvine, according to federal prosecutors.
He is charged with a felony count of insider training for allegedly using secret information to acquire significant amounts of Skyworks securities prior to the information being released to the public.
Prosecutors allege he gained access to confidential company information to make a $484,645 profit.
Chen was allegedly caught by two Skyworks employees on Sept. 15, 2014, going through documents in a restricted area of the office, according to prosecutors.
Chen allegedly confessed to insider trading when interviewed by investigators at Los Angeles International Airport on March 29, prosecutors said.
Chen could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted at trial. He is also facing civil charges in a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed last month.