the bottomline
GREENEVILLE: A chemical engineer has been sentenced to 14 years in prison over what prosecutors say was a scheme to steal trade secrets about materials used in cans for soda and other drinks to benefit the Chinese government and a Chinese company.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Xiaorong “Shannon” You, 59, of Lansing, Michigan, was sentenced Monday by a federal judge in Greeneville, Tennessee, after a jury convicted her last month of charges that include possession of stolen trade secrets and economic espionage.
Prosecutors say You accessed secrets about BPA-free internal coatings of beverage cans while working at CocaCola in Atlanta and Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee. They say the trade secrets cost major chemical and coating companies nearly $120 million to develop.
Prosecutors say You stole the trade secrets to establish a BPA-free coating company in China, and her Chinese partner, Weihai Jinhong Group, received millions of dollars in Chinese government grants to back the new company. (AP) NEW YORK: The world’s largest equipment rental company will buy 500 Ford F-150 Lightning electric trucks and 30 of the automaker’s E-Transit electric vans.
United Rental expects 120 of the trucks and all 30 of the vans to be delivered and deployed this year as part of its goal to reduce its fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions 35% by 2030, the company said Tuesday.
The vehicles will be used by customers on construction and industrial sites and by its own sales, service and delivery personnel, the Connecticut company said.
Like other old-guard automakers, Ford has invested billions of dollars to rapidly develop and produce its electric vehicle lineup.
Ford announced in March that it was splitting its electric vehicle and internal combustion operations into two independent wings to accelerate its adaptation of new technology.
Earlier this year, the Detroit automaker said it would nearly double the annual production of the F-150 Lightning to 150,000 per year based on a high number of reservations.
NEW YORK: Andy Warhol’s “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” sold for a cool $195 million on Monday, making the iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe the most expensive work by a US artist ever sold at auction.
The 1964 silkscreen image shows Monroe in vibrant close-up — hair yellow, eyeshadow blue and lips red — on a rich blue background. It’s also the most expensive piece from the 20th century ever auctioned, according to Christie’s auction house in New York, where the sale took place.
The Warhol sale unseated the previous record holder and another modern master, Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose 1982 painting “Untitled” of a skull-like face sold for a record $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2017.
Christie’s said an unnamed buyer made the purchase Monday night. When the auction was announced earlier this year, they estimated it could go for as much as $200 million.
“It’s an amazing price,” said Alex Rotter, chairman of Christie’s 20th and 21st century art department. “Let it sink in, it’s quite something.”
“This is where we wanted to be, clearly,” said Guillaume Cerutti, CEO of Christie’s. “It proves we are in a very resilient art market.”
The proceeds of the sale will go to the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, which put the painting up for auction. The foundation aims to help children with health care and educational programs.
Warhol created more than one image of Monroe; this particular painting has been exhibited in museums around the world. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑ ATLANTA: Rapper Young Thug was one of 28 people indicted Monday in Georgia on conspiracy to violate the state’s RICO act and street gang charges, according to jail records.
The Atlanta rapper, whose name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, was arrested at his home in Buckhead, an Atlanta neighborhood just north of downtown. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail.
The conspiracy charge dates back to 2013 and the gang charge to 2018, the jail record says.
Young Thug is allegedly one of three founders of the Young Slime
Life, “a criminal street gang that started in late 2012” in Atlanta, the indictment says. YSL is affiliated with the national Bloods gang, officials said. Charges include “Preserving, protecting and enhancing the reputation, power and territory of the enterprise through acts of racketeering activity including murder, assault and threats of violence.”
Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel told local media that, “Mr Williams committed no crime whatsoever” and that he would “fight till his last drop of blood to clear him.”
Also indicted on Monday were Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, and aspiring rapper Christian Eppinger, who was already in jail, accused of shooting an Atlanta Police officer six times in February. It was not immediately known if Gunna, who is accused of conspiracy to violate the state’s RICO act, has been arrested.
In April 2021 Young Thug and Gunna posted bail for 30 low-level inmates who were unable to afford the costs themselves.
Young Thug’s record label has been called YSL Records or Young Stoner Life Records. The label refers to its artists as part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album called “Slime Language 2” hit No. 1 on the charts in April 2021. (AP)