Montreal engineer heads to U.S. prison for stealing trade secrets from General Electric
A Montreal engineer was sentenced to two years in a U.S. prison Wednesday for conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric.
Jean Patrice Delia, age 46, was working for GE in upstate New York when he used the company's trade secrets, "stolen marketing data" and pricing information, among other information, to compete with his employer.
He shared the information with a co-conspirator, Miguel Sernas, a Mexican citizen who was convicted in the same case and sentenced in 2019, the release said.
Delia was investigated by the FBI and pleaded guilty almost two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Wednesday announcing his sentencing.
"As part of his guilty plea entered on December 10, 2019, Delia admitted that he conspired with his business partner and co-defendant, Miguel Sernas," using the stolen information, the authorities wrote.
Delia admitted that he and Sernas were operating as "ThermoGen Power Services" and used the trade secrets "to compete against GE around the world."
There appears to be a strong Canadian, and Montreal, connection to the case: Thermogen Power Services, whose website is still in operation, lists head offices in Canada and Mexico, with a phone number with a Montreal area code.
Online, the company's address is listed as being in downtown Montreal, on Robert-Bourassa Blvd.
It offers services to power plant companies, especially performance testing of the plants, according to the website. That includes gas, wind and solar turbines and fossil-fuel boilers.
Delia worked as an engineer for GE in Schenectady, New York, near Albany, from 2001 through 2012, according to U.S. authorities.
He admitted to conspiring with Sernas from 2008 through 2019.
Both men have been ordered to pay restitution of $1.4 million each as well as sentenced to jail time.
Sernas was sentenced on Dec. 10, 2019 to time served, about a year in jail.
In Delia's case, the judge "ordered [him] to jail, denying his request for a date on which to self-report to prison."
A LinkedIn profile for a J.P. Delia, the owner of Thermogen Power Services, says he attended Concordia University for mechanical engineering.
After many years at GE, beginning as a power plant performance specialist, he lists himself as working full-time at his own company since 2012.
Thermogen's website lists projects in countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Peru, the U.S. and many other countries.
The only project in Canada appeared to be a review of two biomass plants in B.C.
"Since its founding more than a decade ago, TGPS has executed projects providing thermal performance engineering services to hundreds of power plants of all technologies in all continents," the company said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.