Trade Secret Theft & Corporate Espionage Defense in Miami

Taking a job with a competitor is not a crime. Knowing your industry, your skills, and your contacts is not a crime. The criminal laws are aimed at something narrower, and the details of what was taken, how, and why decide whether a case exists at all.

Dennis Gonzalez Jr. is a former Miami-Dade prosecutor who has been defending people since 2012. We defend people who are under investigation or charged. Our office answers 24 hours a day.

Florida: Theft of and Trafficking in Trade Secrets

What counts as a trade secret

Florida's criminal law defines a trade secret as all or part of a formula, pattern, device, or compilation of information used in a business that gives it an advantage, or a chance at an advantage, over those who don't know or use it. It includes scientific, technical, and commercial information, including financial information, designs, processes, procedures, supplier lists, customer lists, and business codes, however they are stored.

Importantly, the information is treated as a trade secret only when the owner takes measures to keep it from becoming available to anyone other than the people it chooses to give access to for limited purposes. Whether the company really protected the information is often a central question.

The crimes

• Theft of a trade secret (third-degree felony). Willfully and without authorization obtaining or using a trade secret, or trying to, with intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner of, or withhold from the owner, its control or benefit, or to take it for your own use or someone else's who isn't entitled to it. A third-degree felony carries up to 5 years and a $5,000 fine under Florida's general sentencing laws.
• Trafficking in trade secrets (second-degree felony). Trafficking in, or trying to traffic in, a trade secret that the person knows or should know was obtained or used without authorization. A second-degree felony carries up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine.
• Benefiting a foreign government. If the offense was committed with intent to benefit a foreign government, foreign agent, or foreign instrumentality, the charge goes up one degree: theft becomes a second-degree felony and trafficking becomes a first-degree felony (up to 30 years).

Those are the general maximums, not what every case gets.

Other rules in the Florida law

• Restitution is required on conviction, including the value of the benefit gained from the offense, which counts the research, design, and other costs of reproducing the trade secret that the person avoided.
• Giving it back is not a defense. The law says returning, or meaning to return, the trade secret does not excuse the offense. It can still matter in other ways, such as in negotiations and at sentencing.
• Whistleblower protection. A person can't be held criminally or civilly liable under this law for disclosing a trade secret confidentially to a lawyer, law enforcement, or a government official to report or investigate a suspected violation of law, or in a court filing made under seal.
• The owner can sue for an injunction under this law.

What changed: this structure (separate theft and trafficking crimes, the foreign-benefit increase, and mandatory restitution) comes from a 2021 law that took effect October 1, 2021. The section has not been amended since. Conduct before that date falls under the older version of the law.

Computer-crime charges

Florida also has a computer-crime law that covers taking or disclosing data that is a trade secret. See Cyber Crimes.

Civil lawsuits

Florida also has a civil Uniform Trade Secrets Act (chapter 688). It lets a company sue; it is not a criminal law. A civil lawsuit and a criminal investigation can happen at the same time, and what you say in one can be used in the other.

Federal: The Economic Espionage Act

• Theft of trade secrets, 18 U.S.C. § 1832. It is a federal crime, with intent to convert a trade secret related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce to the economic benefit of someone other than the owner, and intending or knowing it will injure the owner, to knowingly steal it, or without authorization copy, download, upload, photograph, send, or otherwise convey it, or to receive or possess it knowing it was stolen or taken without authorization. Attempts and conspiracies are covered. The maximum is 10 years and a fine. A company can be fined the greater of $5,000,000 or three times the value of the trade secret to the company.
• Economic espionage, 18 U.S.C. § 1831. The same kinds of acts, done intending or knowing the offense will benefit a foreign government, instrumentality, or agent. The maximum is 15 years and a fine of up to $5,000,000. A company can be fined the greater of $10,000,000 or three times the value of the trade secret to the company.
• Federal definition. Under federal law, information is a trade secret only if the owner took reasonable measures to keep it secret and it gets independent economic value from not being generally known or readily found out by proper means.
• Civil cases. Federal law also lets an owner sue over a misappropriated trade secret, and lets the Attorney General seek an injunction. Those are civil cases.

Common Situations: Leaving a Job, Files, and Devices

Many of these cases turn on ordinary things people do:

• Downloading files before leaving, or emailing documents to a personal account.
• Syncing a work phone or laptop to a personal cloud account.
• USB drives and external hard drives plugged into work computers.
• Keeping a company laptop or phone after leaving.
• Customer contacts saved in a personal phone.
• Starting a competing business or joining a competitor.

Companies often have forensic examiners pull logs showing what was accessed, copied, or uploaded and when. Those logs can be wrong, incomplete, or misread. Some files are not secret at all; some were things the employee was allowed to have; some were personal.

Defense Issues We Look At

• Is it really a trade secret? Was it actually secret, and did the company take real measures to protect it?
• Authorization: was the person allowed to access, copy, or keep it?
• Intent: was there intent to deprive the owner or to benefit someone else, or was it carelessness, habit, or personal files mixed in?
• Use: was the information ever used or shared?
• The forensic evidence: who actually did what, on which device, and when?
• Value: how the company values the information affects restitution, fines, and leverage.
• The civil case: depositions, sworn statements, and document productions in a lawsuit can create criminal risk.

What to Do If You're Accused

1. Don't talk to your former employer's investigators, lawyers, or the police without a lawyer.
2. Don't delete, wipe, or reformat anything, including personal devices and cloud accounts. Deleting can make things much worse.
3. Don't return, copy, or "clean up" files on your own. Ask a lawyer how to handle it.
4. Don't contact former co-workers about the case.
5. Call us at (305) 209-0384.

If you are not a U.S. citizen, see Immigration Consequences. If you expect to be charged, see Self-Surrender.

Related Pages

• White Collar Crimes
• Economic & Financial Crimes
• Cyber Crimes
• Insider Trading
• Counterfeit Goods

Why Choose Dennis Gonzalez Law, P.A.

• Former Miami-Dade prosecutor.
• Defending people since 2012.
• Super Lawyers recognition and an Avvo Rating of 10.0.
• Bilingual office — se habla español.
• We answer 24 hours a day. Call (305) 209-0384.

You can read about some of our past cases on our Results page.

Frequently Asked Questions

I took files when I left my job. Is that a crime?

It can be, but not always. It depends on what the files were, whether they were truly trade secrets the company protected, whether you were authorized, and what you intended. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to anyone else.

Is a customer list a trade secret?

It can be. Florida's definition includes customer lists, but only when the owner took measures to keep the information confidential.

If I give everything back, does the case go away?

Not automatically. Florida's law says returning the trade secret is not a defense. It can still matter in how the case is handled.

My old employer is suing me. Should I worry about criminal charges?

Possibly. A civil case and a criminal case can run at the same time, and what you say or produce in one can be used in the other.

What makes it a federal case?

The federal theft statute covers trade secrets related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or foreign commerce. The federal economic espionage statute applies when the person intends or knows the offense will benefit a foreign government, instrumentality, or agent, and it carries higher penalties.

How fast can you help?

Our office answers 24 hours a day. Call (305) 209-0384.