Filed under: Europe, Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing, BMW
According to reports, a ring of 18 workers at BMW’s plant in Munich have been stealing from the German automaker for years. It seems the individuals would stop the lines for fake quality control checks and make off with the goods to be sold on the open market. The most lucrative business reportedly centered around reselling seats through internet auctions.
BMW’s own internal investigators discovered the thievery – but not until €3 million in goods ($4 million) was stolen – and reported the matter to local authorities. At least three ex-employees are currently in custody. Thanks for the tip, Gregg!
[Source: The Local | Photo: Drew Phillips/AOL]
BMW reportedly catches ring of workers stealing up to $4 million in parts originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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According to the Department of Justice, 49 year-old Mike Yu has pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets. Yu worked as a product engineer for Ford for 10 years before accepting a job with another company, but when he left the Blue Oval, he took more than his family photos with him when he walked out the door. The engineer copied over 4,000 Ford documents onto an external hard drive before letting the company know of his new employer. Those documents included proprietary information on everything from engine and transmission mounting designs to electrical systems and full body shells. Yu began working for Beijing Automotive Company in 2008.
Sorry ladies, but it looks like the dark and seedy world of car thievery is still dominated by the males of our species. A new report in Justice Quarterly reports that while women typically have no problem breaking a window, shattering a steering column lock and hotwiring their way to freedom, they tend to have more limited access to facilities that can turn a single stolen car into multiple sellable parts. For whatever reason, the crews that run chop shops just don’t tend to trust a lady thief like they would her masculine counterpart.