Intel's former staffer accused of stealing 18,000 'Top Secret' files, worked there for 10 years

Intel is accusing a former employee who worked for the company for 10 years of stealing thousands of documents, but only after he was fired in July 2025, with many of them classified as "Top Secret".

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In a new report from OregonLive, the outlet writes that former Intel employee Jinfeng Luo, who lived in Seattle, worked for the company as a software developer, starting in 2013, according to a lawsuit that Intel filed against him in a Washington federal court last week.

• Read more: Intel to slice and dice a huge 30% of its global workforce: over 15,000 jobs to be slashed

Intel says that it notified Luo of his pending dismissal on July 7, warning him that his employment would be terminated on July 31. Intel hasn't explained the exact reason behind Luo being fired, but it could've been because the company laid off over 15,000 workers last summer.

Intel claims that Luo attempted to download a file from his work-provided laptop to an external hard drive, but internal company controls stopped him in his tracks. However, five days later, Intel says that Luo connected another storage device, and then downloaded 18,000 files.

The company says that the file transfer triggered an investigation, with Intel spending months to try and contact him at his home in Seattle, and at two other addresses he had on his file, with one of them located in Portland. After failing to reach Luo, Intel filed suit seeking at least $250,000 in damages, attorney fees, and a court order to prevent Luo from disclosing confidential information.

OregonLive reports that Intel has declined to comment, and that Luo still can't be located.