All language subtitles for FBI True Season - 5 episode 10

- China is engaged in
a whole-of-state effort

to become the world's only
superpower.

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- They already have
more ships than us.

They have comparable
military power.

The one key advantage we
have is our submarines.

- We got some information
indicating this company

in Houston was
interested in stealing

a marine technology for China.

- It's the technology
that makes

our submarines quiet

so you can't hear
our submarines on sonars.

- There was a lot of
money coming from China

to the Houston company.

- Submarines can take out
aircraft carriers

with thousands of sailors
on them.

That technology is
going to either

save thousands of U.S. sailors

or it's going to get
them killed.

- This is an insider threat.

This is a big deal.

- We have to act.

- In the FBI, we make
a lot of headlines.

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Drug busts,

mob stings,

terrorist takedowns.

- Get down! Get down!

- We understand why people
want to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.

- Freeze!
- FBI.

- FBI!
- Action!

- But they don't know
the half of it.

What really goes down,

we save that for each other

when we're talking
agent-to-agent.

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This is "FBI True."

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- Well, tell me,
how did you three

get involved in this big case?

- We got some information
indicating this company

in Houston was interested
in syntactic foam,

a marine technology that
is export controlled,

because it has national
security implications.

There's regulations controlling
whether it can be

sent to another country,
such as China or Russia.

- So one thing, I have no
clue what syntactic foam is.

What is syntactic foam?

- Essentially, syntactic foam
is trapped air,

and it's just really
reinforced trapped air.

You create tiny spheres,
and inside the sphere is air.

It's all packed in a resin
that's lightweight,

very strong.

It can conform
to whatever shape

that you need it to be in.

- It's the technology that
makes our submarines quiet.

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Older submarines are
made out of steel.

When they dive, it makes
a lot of noise on sonar,

so you can hear them coming.

And our submarines
use syntactic foam,

which contracts quietly,

so you can't hear
our submarines on sonar.

It's also used in our
stealth destroyers.

The superstructure of is
made out of syntactic foam,

but the radar goes through it,
so you can't see where it is.

- There's only four companies
that manufacture syntactic foam

for use in our military.

narrator: Crosby Haupt served

in the Marine Corps
Combat Engineers

for four years, including
a tour in Afghanistan.

In 2012, he joined

the FBI Counterintelligence
Squad in Houston.

- One is in the U.K.,
one in France,

one in Australia,
and one in the U.S.

None of the companies
that can mass produce

this technology
at a high level would

cooperate with Russia
or China.

- But is there any other
company trying to steal

this technology for China?

Because this could be
a potential detriment

to our military,
to the country.

narrator: Cindy Coppola is
a 23-year veteran of the FBI.

She worked on cases
that included

organized crime and terrorism,

and took part in
multinational investigations

into drug trafficking
and money laundering.

- In counterintelligence,
China is

our number-one priority
for a reason.

We have hundreds of cases.

They're our biggest threat.

narrator: Roman Rozhavsky is
a 17-year veteran of the FBI.

He leads the Bureau's
efforts to detect

and investigate threats
from Russia, Iran,

China, and other adversaries.

- The PRC has more
ships than us.

They have comparable
military power.

- China's navy--
now, numbers are staggering.

355 vessels.

It's grown so quickly,
analysts consider

the country's rise
unlike anything seen

in several centuries.

- The one key advantage
we have is our submarines.

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PRC is still using
Soviet-era subs

that are made out of steel.

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Our submarines are quieter.

They can't be
detected on sonar,

and syntactic foam is
a big part of that.

narrator: But now that
U.S. advantage could be lost,

which would put
American sailors at risk

as they patrol
the South China Sea,

hoping to deter China's
aggression against Taiwan.

- Submarines can take out
an aircraft carrier

with thousands of sailors
on them.

This is technology we really
need to protect

for national security reasons.

PRC government,
they say exactly

what they want to accomplish:

Become a marine power,
take over the South China Sea,

push out the U.S.
and its allies.

- China is engaged in
a whole-of-state effort

to become the world's
only superpower

by any means necessary.

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- We got a tip that there's
a company in Houston, CBMI.

- This company, CBMI, was
trying to get export-controlled

syntactic foam for China.

narrator: Julie Jordan has

been a counterintelligence
analyst for almost 20 years,

investigating cases involving
export violations,

theft of trade secrets,
and economic espionage.

- CBMI, this company
in Houston,

what were they all about?

- So we got
a business location.

We drove by.

It looked like a little
strip mall office.

CBMI, on their website,
claimed that they could make

this syntactic foam already.

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- But how do you do that
in a tiny, little strip mall

doesn't really make sense.

We found out that
it had a parent company

in China, CBM Future.

narrator: In China, the "CBM"
in the company's name

stands for
"China Buoyancy Materials,"

but the Houston
subsidiary's acronym

is "Create Better Materials,"

removing any reference
to China.

- The company is trying to hide
who they actually work for

so other U.S. companies will
do business with them.

- Who was the owner?

- Shan Shi.

He graduated from
a very well-known university,

Harbin Engineering University,
in China.

He came to the United States
in the late '90s to study.

- Was he a U.S. citizen?

- He was.
- Yes, naturalized.

- Kui Bo was the Vice President
of CBM International.

Shan Shi being
the engineering expertise,

and Kui Bo doing more
of the business side.

Having the foundation that
we built at that point,

one of the other areas that we
really needed to understand

was a sense of the finances.

You know, where's
the money coming from

to facilitate this effort
of theirs?

And so we were able
to use a subpoena

to get their bank records.

There was a lot of money
coming from China

to the Houston company.

- You follow the money, or
you follow the phones, right?

- We see millions
of dollars coming in,

and nothing going out, which,
of course, doesn't make sense.

We start researching more.

We see that CBMF is partnered

with Harbin Engineering
University,

which is the PLA Navy's
research facility

where Shan Shi was a student.

Then we see they're
getting money

from high-level PRC government.

You realize that
they weren't just trying

to buy a sheet
of syntactic foam

to put into a submarine.

They wanted to try to get
the entire technology.

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- We actually saw photographs

of their
manufacturing facilities.

narrator: Now investigators
want to know

if the company's factory in
China is actually producing

syntactic foam
or even some part of it.

- We found out they were
going to attend

this trade show that happened
every year in Houston, Texas.

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So we walk through,
and we find their booth.

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And there on their table they
have the macro spheres that

go into the final product.

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- Crosby, when you saw
this at the trade show,

did you go, like, "Holy shit,
they've got this technology"?

- Yeah.

I'm very concerned
at that point.

- Our biggest fear was
they would succeed

and steal
the entire technology.

- That was a big moment for us

because it puts it all
in perspective.

This is an insider threat.
This is a big deal.

narrator: Now that they have
spheres that help

make up syntactic foam and
a Chinese factory standing by

to produce the full product,

Shan Shi and his
Houston company appear poised

to steal the crucial
naval technology.

- We needed to know what
was truly happening.

Either in their
phone conversations

or in their emails,
what were they talking about?

- Because it's a U.S. company,
so they have extra protection,

we had to prove they were
acting as an agent

of a foreign power.

We had enough for a FISA.

- So you get emails.

Do you get phones?
- We did.

So at this point,
we start reading,

in real time,
what they're doing.

- We had about 250,000 emails
to go through.

- Wow.

- So I started
browsing a little bit

and decided to do
a keyword search.

And I searched the word
"trade secret."

And one of the first emails
that came up

was this 20-page document.

It had Trelleborg markings
all over the front,

along with confidentiality,
proprietary statements

on every single page.

narrator: Trelleborg is one
of the four companies

that makes syntactic foam
for the American military.

Located in Houston, Trelleborg
observes all U.S. export laws.

- That information,
that trade secret information,

had been stolen
from Trelleborg.

We also see through
the email coverage,

CBMI had reached out
to headhunters

to try to specifically
find the employees

that had worked on
the manufacturing process

at Trelleborg.

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- What we realize is
that they actually

have two former Trelleborg
employees now working at CBMI.

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Gang Liu was kind of
the linchpin of everything.

He was an intern
at Trelleborg for a year.

- Sam Ogoe was a former
Trelleborg employee.

He actually worked on
manufacturing and testing.

- So you think, at that point,

that's where that PowerPoint
came from.

One of them stole it--

- Stole it.
- When they left.

- Yes.
- Right.

- Gang Liu had kept the
technical data from Trelleborg.

At that point, they knew,
like, they had

somebody who could advance
them significantly.

Gang Liu was hired.

On day two, he's providing
mountains of technical data.

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- So when Sam started
working at CBMI,

he reached out to his friends,
Uka Uche and Johnny Randall.

Both of them were, at the time,
working at Trelleborg.

And they provided him
trade secret information.

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- We're angry at this point.

We know they have
stolen trade secrets,

and we're finding more
Trelleborg trade secrets.

- That's just crazy.
- Right.

- It's just crazy.
- You have to act.

We have to warn this company.

- It's a duty to warn them
because this could definitely

affect the United States
and impact our military

and maybe the Five Eyes
as well, right?

- It's a threat
to our national security.

They could build submarines
that are as good as ours.

And submarines carry
nuclear weapons,

they can go anywhere, and
they'd be difficult to detect.

Those submarines could
destroy our fleets.

narrator: Without detection,
Chinese subs might

even end up
in the waters not far

from America's biggest cities.

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- We see that they have
insiders in Trelleborg,

so we can't just go
to the U.S. company,

because we don't know,
you know, who knows about this

and who doesn't,
and we might tip them off.

So we decide we're going
all the way to Sweden,

and we're going to talk
to their CEO.

- Sweden, so it's
a Swedish company.

- It's a massive
Swedish corporation.

The company in Houston
that made syntactic foam was

one of their subsidiaries.

We go to their boardroom,

and then we show them
the stolen trade secrets

that we got from our FISA.

And we would like your help
to stop this

and save your company
in Houston.

- And from that point forward,
we had their attention.

And the anger in the room built
as they understood

that someone in their family
had betrayed them.

- And they were like, we will
fully cooperate with you.

We will work with you and help
you with this prosecution.

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- So you come back from Sweden.

What do you guys do next?

- Number one, we need CMBI
to try to profit

from their stolen
trade secrets.

Number two, we need them to
do it in District of Columbia

because that's where
the U.S. Attorney's Office is

that we're working with.

And then number three,
we want to get more evidence

that they're sponsored
by the PRC government

and that this is
economic espionage.

So we partner with Lockheed.

We get their permission
to put their name

on this potential project,

where they're going
to build a submarine that

would need syntactic foam.

We make it very lucrative,
you know,

where CBMI make
millions of dollars.

So we have the undercover
who is acting

as the contractor for Lockheed
reach out to Shan Shi.

And the undercover says,
like, hey, we don't just

work with anyone, and you're
not exactly a known company,

so what have you done before?

- Sure.

- It works out better
than we ever hoped.

They send us this amazing
presentation of things

they have done
for the PRC's Navy,

like they actually built
a submersible for them,

and they send us photos
of that.

- It was an orange ROV,
and it's up on a stand.

And when you zoom in
on a little logo on it,

it says the "Key Laboratory
for National Defense."

- I cannot believe
they went for it, frankly.

Like, it was a great idea,
but why would they be

so foolish as to provide
the things that

they ended up providing,

which were projects
for the PRC government

and different research
institutes that we--

are known to be of concern.

- We set up an
undercover meeting

with Shan Shi and Gang Liu.

They think they're gonna
meet with Lockheed.

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- And we knew that
the three individuals

from Trelleborg would be
in Houston.

And we find out that
Kui Bo is going

to fly to Boston to buy
a bunch of equipment

to send back to China.

- At that point,
there were subjects

in three different states.

- The plan was I would go
to DC and interrogate

Shi and Gang Liu.

Crosby has to go to Boston.

- Going to Boston made
the most sense

because Kui Bo has been
there the entire time

since its inception.

That left Houston.

We turned to Julie and--

- Intelligence analysts
are not usually

used to interrogate subjects
after they're arrested.

This is a very
rare circumstance.

Crosby was worried.

Like, there's no way
they're gonna buy this.

Are they even gonna get
on the plane?

- This doesn't work,
then we don't really

have any other backup plan.

narrator: But two of the top
executives take the bait

and fly to DC for the meeting.

- So we rent
this temporary room

where they give
the presentation.

- Thank you.

- Come on in.
Make yourself at home.

- We had three undercovers
in the meeting.

We had WFO watching--
- WFO doing surveillance.

- And we were watching live.

narrator: Shan Shi
and Gang Liu boast

about their latest projects.

- Oh, okay.
Okay.

narrator: Then,
a familiar name pops up.

Trelleborg,
the company from which

Gang Liu stole
technical specifications

for syntactic foam.

- You know, they're really
pleased with themselves.

They think they're gonna
get the contract.

- With Lockheed.
- Right, with Lockheed.

- And, at one point, Gang Liu,
he's talking about,

we made these for the PLA Navy,

and they are these
sonobuoys that float.

You know, they're used
to find submarines.

And then the undercover
is, like, wait,

you made this for the PLA Navy?

Like, you know--

Like our enemy, basically?

I'm just gonna--

- And then--
- He realized, oops,

I better not talk about it.
- Yeah.

Shan Shi jumps in,
and he's, like,

we try to follow the law,
and we--

- We try not to work
with the Chinese military,

is what he says.
- Right.

- The presentation
took about an hour,

and they're sitting
there thinking,

you know, they're gonna make
millions of dollars.

They finished
their presentation,

and the undercovers say,
hey, this was great.

You know,
we're really interested,

but we have to call our CEO.

They think they're
getting the contract,

and they're gonna
make all this money.

And then, eventually, a whole
squad of FBI agents comes in

and handcuffs them.

And the looks on their
faces are, you know,

shock and surprise.

- Shi was one of them.

- Yeah, Shi was one of them.

Gang Liu the other.

And the third person,
it was his first day.

They just hired him,
and they're, like,

we need you to go
to this presentation.

He's sitting there--
- Oh, my God.

- As the FBI comes
and arrests everyone.

- He has no clue.

- And he's like,
I'm not with them.

- Yeah.

- So Crosby gets
Kui Bo to confess.

Julie get Sam to confess.

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- Yeah.

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- I interrogate Gang Liu.

And I'm confronting him
with, like, look,

you sent these trade secrets.

- And after, like an hour,
he breaks down,

and he's, like, yes, I did it.

- It was at Gang Liu's house,
we find a backpack

with all these
Trelleborg formulas.

He printed those out
and walked out with them

because he still had access,

and that's why Shan Shi
hired him.

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Everyone confesses, right,

and everyone cooperates
with us,

except Shan Shi.

His interrogation is like
three hours of him denying

and lying about everything.

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- Four subjects pleaded guilty.

- One fled.
- One fled.

- Gang Liu snuck
to DC and boarded

an Air China flight directly,
so they definitely helped him.

- In 2015, China committed
publicly that

it would not target
American companies

for economic gain.

Obviously, that commitment
has not been met.

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- It was the first case
ever where we were

able to intervene before
a technology was stolen,

rather than afterwards.

And we're happy we were
able to stop the technology

from going to the PRC.

Hopefully, it prevented the PRC

from building
better submarines.

- We're trying
to be more proactive.

The FBI is trying to get out
in front of the private sector

and say, this is what you need
to worry about

because we don't want this
to happen again.

We would rather prevent
it than prosecute it.

- Submarines are
the key to everything.

They're our biggest advantage
against other countries.

If we ever do go
to war with China,

it'll be a naval war
in the South China Sea

or a conflict over Taiwan.

That technology
is going to either

save thousands of U.S. sailors,

or it's going
to get them killed.

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