Reading the indictment, it sure sounds like the victim company employee was in on it. I wonder why "Employee 1" is not also charged. The press release makes it sound like the Chinese spy was soliciting company insiders to give talks where maybe they can learn something, whereas the indictment alleges that he was brazenly asking the insiders to send copies of confidential designs. And in this case it seems the insider did exactly that, and was hand over of a big dump of valuable data was imminent when US authorities decided to move in. It seems to be more than mere conspiracy, they were actually committing espionage.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if "Employee 1" is a Chinese national and was under some pressure, or if there was a big payout on offer that isn't mentioned. Otherwise I can't understand why anyone would betray their employer for a few grand of travel expenses.