Shanghai hedge fund Pinestone denies US charge against co-founder for trade-secret theft
Pinestone Asset Management, a top performing Chinese hedge fund, has denied a charge by federal grand jury in Massachusetts against its co-founder Xiao Zhang for stealing trade secrets from his former employer in the US.
The Shanghai-based quantitative hedge fund said Zhang has hired US law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to defend his legal rights and reputation, according to a statement on Thursday.
The charge, which accuses Zhang of stealing trade secrets with the intention of establishing his own business in China, has nothing to do with Pinestone which he co-founded in 2022, it said.
“The time period involved in the false allegations predates the establishment of Pinestone, and the entities being indicted do not include any companies where Zhang is employed or has founded,” it added.
The US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts on October 31 said it had indicted Zhang for stealing trade secrets while he was working for a global investment management firm in 2021. Zhang accessed his employer’s networks from China and made copies of its code, projects and research, it alleged.
