Former DuPont Employee Charged With Theft of Trade Secrets and Lying to the FBI

Josh Harry Isler, age 55, from St. Ansgar, Iowa, has been charged with one count of trade secret theft and one count of making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ­ The charges are contained in an Information filed today in the United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The Information alleges that, during at least August 2013, while employed by DuPont and after having accepted an offer of employment with a competitor, Isler stole trade secrets of DuPont.  After Isler accepted employment with a competitor of DuPont in the ethanol fuel enzyme business, he allegedly transferred hundreds of DuPont’s electronic files to an external storage device.  It is also alleged Isler knew the files he downloaded contained proprietary information and trade secrets of DuPont and many related to customers of DuPont who were also customers of the competitor or whose business was being sought by the competitor.  It is alleged Isler retained the files in his new job and transferred some to his new employer.

The Information also alleges that when he was interviewed by the FBI in November 2013, Isler falsely denied he had downloaded the files containing proprietary information of DuPont.

If convicted on both charges, Isler faces a maximum combined sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to $500,000, and eight years of supervised release after any imprisonment.  Isler could also be ordered to pay restitution to DuPont.

Isler’s initial appearance in federal court in Cedar Rapids has been scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on July 5, 2018.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard L. Murphy and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 18-CR-2032.