The actions of the two employees led to the leakage of the company's trade secrets, with serious consequences, Li Auto said.

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Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has fired two of its employees for allegedly accepting paid interviews without authorization, becoming the second Chinese company to do so in the last 2 months after Xiaomi (HKG: 1810).

Between November 2022 and January 2024, two Li Auto employees with the last names Wang and Fang repeatedly violated the law by accepting paid interviews with outside brokerages without authorization when they had signed confidentiality agreements, according to a statement from the automaker today.

Their behavior resulted in the leakage of the company's trade secrets, with serious consequences, Li Auto said.

Li Auto terminated the employment contracts with the two employees, recovered their improper profits, and withdrew vested and unvested stock options, according to the statement.

Li Auto said the company prohibits any current employee, those who have left the company, and partners under a duty of confidentiality from disclosing the company's trade secrets.

At the same time, Li Auto reserves the right to pursue legal liability against relevant brokerage firms and investment institutions, it said.

Li Auto has zero tolerance for the violation of trade secrets and will resolutely combat it, it said.

The company's statement did not mention the matters involved in the leaks by the two employees.

On December 19, 2023, Xiaomi said it fired three employees in its auto business for attending unauthorized meetings with investment institutions and spreading false information.

In November and December, three former employees of Xiaomi's automotive business unit attended unauthorized seminars about the unit organized by external brokerages and investment institutions for the purpose of collecting consulting fees, Xiaomi said at the time.

They intentionally disseminated a large amount of erroneous and untrue information, seriously misleading the market and disrupting the normal development of Xiaomi's automotive business, the company previously said.

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