Crime & Safety

Indian National Admits Stealing Trade Secrets from Major Medical Companies, Authorities Say

Man who formerly lived in Mahwah admitted to stealing info from BD in Franklin Lakes and Bard in Murray Hill, US Attorney General says.

An Indian national who formerly lived in Mahwah admitted in court last week that he stole trade secrets from two North Jersey medical technology companies, Attorney General Paul J. Fishman announced in a release.

According to Fishman, Ketankumar Maniar, 37, pleaded guilty in Trenton last Wednesday to charges of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets for his own economic benefit.

From 2004 through 2011, Maniar worked as an engineer in the Salt Lake City facility of C.R. Bard, Inc., which is headquartered in Murray Hill, and from 2012 to 2013, worked as a staff engineer at the Franklin Lakes headquarters of Becton, Dickinson and Co., Fishman said.

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“Through his work at Bard and BD, Maniar was able to steal secret information related to the companies’ products, including Bard’s development of the first implantable port used for power injection of pharmaceutical drugs throughout the body,” Fishman said in the release.

“Maniar also had access to secret information related to a self-administered disposable pen injector still under development by BD and not yet available for commercial sale.”

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Maniar admitted to stealing secrets from both companies, and saving them in email accounts and on external hard drives, Fishman said. Authorities found evidence of the theft in an NJ hotel room Maniar was staying in last year while preparing to move back to India, Fishman said.

Maniar, who is set to be sentenced on Sept. 23, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, authorities said.


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