Tim Spitler (1948 – 2012) – Remorseful Spy

Timothy Spitler was a chemical engineer specializing in the production of titanium dioxide, a brilliantly white material used in paints and toothpaste.   He worked at DuPont but was apparently laid off in the late 90s.   He came into the orbit of Walter Liew, a Chinese-American businessman who was looking to set up TiO2 production in China.  DuPont had a particular chloride-based process for separating titanium from its ore that was much more efficient than other methods.   They considered it a trade secret and dominated the multi-billion-dollar market.  Liew got the process from Spitler between 1997 and 2000, and also used the services of another ex-DuPonter, Robert Maegerle.    Liew approached a Chinese company, Pangang Group, saying that he could build a plant for them, and was paid $30M in consulting fees.

DuPont got wind of all of this in 2010 when an Australian consulting engineering company was hired by Pangang to review Liew’s plans.   They warned Pangang that this was DuPont tech, but that seemed to make them more interested.   They told DuPont too, though, and DuPont told the FBI.   They raided Liew’s house in 2011 and found several keys in his wife Christina’s purse.   They asked her what they were for, and her husband told her in Chinese “You don’t know, you don’t know”.   Sadly for them, FBI agents speak Chinese too.   She confessed ignorance, and asked to leave the house to go to breakfast, but went immediately to a bank, where she used the key on a safe-deposit box.  The FBI was tailing her. She then went to meet several men in a motel who were with Pangang and the Chinese government.  They were all busted and put on trial.

Spitler initially agreed to testify against them, but then killed himself about 8 months after their arrest.  He would have been about 64.   His daughter had committed suicide in 2006, so it may have run in his family.   He had actually filed a lot of patents about TiO2 and lithium-ion batteries in the 2000s, and so was still working.   He got about $15,000 from Lieu, but it must have been utterly mortifying to learn that he had been used for Chinese industrial espionage.

Oddly enough, he figures in anti-Obama conspiracy websites.  He’s listed as one of Obama’s victims.  They claim that DuPont was actually trying to steal Chinese tech and covering it up by counter-charging the Liews’.

The Liews’ were convicted in 2014.  Walter began serving a 15 year sentence, and Christina got 3 years probation.  Maegerle got 2.5 years and must be out by now.  Walter Liew  lost an appeal in the Ninth Circuit in 2017, so he’s done for.

Pangang did build their TiO2 plant, and boast on their website that it uses the chloride process.   Crime does pay, if you can stay beyond the reach of the FBI.

Excellent Bloomberg story on this here.