3 plead guilty in tech export case

SANTA ANA, Calif. --Three relatives of a Chinese-born engineer who was convicted of trying to export U.S. defense technology to China have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy, authorities said Monday.

All three had been set to stand trial Tuesday.

Instead, Chi Mak's brother Tai Mak pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to export control laws, and Tai Mak's wife, Fuk Li, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws. The couple's son, Yui "Billy" Mak, pleaded guilty last week to aiding and abetting the violation of export control laws.

Chi Mak's wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, is still scheduled to face similar charges in trial Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors said Chi Mak, a naturalized U.S. citizen, took thousands of pages of documents from his employer, defense contractor Power Paragon of Anaheim, and handed them off to his brother, who in turn passed them along to Chinese authorities.

Chi Mak was arrested in 2005 in Los Angeles after FBI agents stopped his brother and sister-in-law as they boarded a flight to Hong Kong.

Investigators said they found three encrypted CDs in their luggage that contained documents on a submarine propulsion system, a solid-state power switch for ships and a Power Point presentation on the future of power electronics. "Billy" Mak was accused of helping encrypt the files onto CD-ROM computer disk.

A federal jury last month found Chi Mak guilty of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making false statements to the FBI. Chi Mak faces up to 45 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 10.

Tai Mak faces up to 10 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, "Billy" Mak will be sentenced to time already served, and Fuk Li will be sentenced to three years' probation, according to court papers.

Calls to Tai Mak and "Billy" Mak's attorneys were not immediately returned Monday. C. Thomas McDonald, Fuk Li's attorney, declined to comment.