FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  CRM
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1997                              (202) 514-2008                                                                                            
                                                       TDD (202) 514-1888


TAIWANESE BUSINESSMAN AND DAUGHTER
ARRESTED ON INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE CHARGES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced today the arrest by the agents from the Cleveland FBI office of a Taiwanese businessman and his daughter on charges of stealing company secrets from one of the nation's largest adhesive manufacturing companies.

Scott Charney, chief of the Justice Department's Computer crime and Intellectual Property Section and Emily Sweeney, U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, said the criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

The defendants, Pin Yen Yang, aka P.Y. Yang, 70, and his daughter, Hwei Chang Yang, aka Sally Yang, 39, were arrested by FBI agents Thursday evening at Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland. They were traveling to New York to see the U.S. Open tennis championship.

Both defendants are charged with mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to steal trade secrets, money laundering and receipt of stolen goods from the Avery Dennison Corporation facility in Concord, Ohio.

Avery Dennison, based in Pasadena, California, is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of adhesive products which include postage stamps and mailing labels. The company employs some 16,000 people world-wide.

The pair was arrested after negotiating with an employee of Avery Dennison to obtain additional trade secrets. That employee was cooperating with the FBI in an undercover capacity.

Since July of 1989 the defendants have obtained, among other things, Avery Dennison trade secret information relating to formulations for self-adhesive products.

Federal prosecutors said an initial estimate regarding the search and development costs expended by Avery Dennison to develop the information obtained by the defendants could exceed between $50 million and $60 million.

P.Y. Yang is the president of Four Pillars Enterprise Company, LTD, of Taiwan. That firm manufactures and sells pressure-sensitive products mainly in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and the Peoples Republic of China. There is no indication individuals from the Peoples Republic of China participated in the scheme.

Hwei Chen Yang is a corporate officer of Four Pillars, which has more than 900 employees and annual revenues of more than $150 million. She is believed to hold dual citizenship in the United States and Taiwan.

Copies of the criminal complaint and the FBI affidavit are available at the Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice (202-514-2008).

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