Washington Blocks Beijing's MiraclePlus and an Ex-Google Engineer's Start-up Over Stolen AI Trade Secrets
On 19 October 2026 the US State Department sanctioned five China-based entities under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act over the theft of Google trade secrets by former Google engineer Linwei Ding, convicted by a federal jury in January. The targets are Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, the company Ding founded in 2023, and the Beijing start-up investor MiraclePlus, which admitted him to its incubator and took a stake in Zhisuan, together with two MiraclePlus venture funds and a partnership the funds own. OFAC added all five to its Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions List rather than the SDN List, with five measures each, starting with the blocking of property. General License 2 allows dealings with the MiraclePlus entities, and companies they own 50 per cent or more, to be wound down until 19 January 2027, with payments going into blocked US accounts. Shanghai Zhisuan has no wind-down. Screening programmes that load only the SDN List will not see these names.
This issue
- New designations
- 5
- Removals
- 0
- Entries amended
- 0
- Sources monitored
- 97
Intellectual Property Theft Becomes a Sanctions Trigger
A federal jury convicted Linwei Ding on 29 January 2026 of stealing Google trade secrets on artificial intelligence technology. Acting under PAIPA (50 U.S.C. 1709), the State Department has now targeted the businesses around him. Shanghai Zhisuan Technology Co Ltd, which Ding founded in 2023, was found to have knowingly engaged in or benefited from the theft. Qiji Chuangtan Beijing Investment Management Co Ltd, better known as MiraclePlus, admitted Ding to its incubation programme and took a stake in Zhisuan for seed capital; the State Department found it gave significant support to, or benefited significantly from, the theft.
Two MiraclePlus venture funds (Miracle Plus RMB Fund I and Fund II) and the Zhiyuan partnership, wholly owned by Fund I, were designated as owned, controlled or acting for MiraclePlus. Each of the five carries the same five PAIPA measures, including full blocking of property except for the importation of goods. OFAC issued General License 1, aligning PAIPA with authorisations under the Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations, and General License 2, which allows the wind-down of dealings with the four MiraclePlus entities, and entities they own 50 per cent or more, until 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on 19 January 2027. Shanghai Zhisuan is not covered by the wind-down.
Party detail
Every row below was read against the issuing authority's own notice, not against a press report. Aliases are reproduced in full, including non Latin script forms, because the alias field is where a screening run usually fails. Identifiers are published sanctions data.
| Party | Action and instrument | Identifiers | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qiji Chuangtan Beijing Investment Management Co Ltd | DesignationProtecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (PAIPA), 50 U.S.C. 1709, section 2; NS-MBS List tag [PAIPA] | Identifier: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) 91110108MA01HHAHXF (China)Established: 06 Mar 2019Address: No. 601, 6th Floor, No. 28 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100000, China | Former Google engineer Linwei Ding was convicted by a US federal jury on 29 January 2026 of stealing Google trade secrets on artificial intelligence technology to benefit himself and China-based technology companies. According to the State Department, Ding applied to MiraclePlus's start-up incubation programme citing his Google experience and claiming that Zhisuan could replicate Google's AI infrastructure technology, and MiraclePlus provided seed capital in exchange for an ownership stake in Zhisuan. The State Department found that it provided significant support for, or benefited significantly from, the theft of US trade secrets. |
| Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Phase I Venture Capital Center Limited Partnership | DesignationProtecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (PAIPA), 50 U.S.C. 1709, section 2; NS-MBS List tag [PAIPA] | Identifier: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) 91110108MA01QB5K5M (China)Established: Jun 2020Address: No. 601, 6th Floor, No. 28 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100000, China | A venture capital fund managed by MiraclePlus. According to the State Department, designated because MiraclePlus owns or controls it, or it acts for or on behalf of MiraclePlus. |
| Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Phase II Venture Capital Center Limited Partnership | DesignationProtecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (PAIPA), 50 U.S.C. 1709, section 2; NS-MBS List tag [PAIPA] | Identifier: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) 91110108MABQAUYK7G (China)Established: Oct 2022Address: No. 601, 6th Floor, No. 28 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100000, China | A second venture capital fund managed by MiraclePlus. According to the State Department, designated because MiraclePlus owns or controls it, or it acts for or on behalf of MiraclePlus. |
| Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Zhiyuan Enterprise Management Center Limited Partnership | DesignationProtecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (PAIPA), 50 U.S.C. 1709, section 2; NS-MBS List tag [PAIPA] | Identifier: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) 91110108MA01NK6F9X (China)Established: 08 Nov 2019Address: No. 601, 6th Floor, No. 28 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100000, China | According to the State Department, wholly owned by Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Phase I Venture Capital Center Limited Partnership and designated on the same basis as the MiraclePlus funds. |
| Shanghai Zhisuan Technology Co Ltd | DesignationProtecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (PAIPA), 50 U.S.C. 1709, section 2; NS-MBS List tag [PAIPA] | Identifier: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) 91310104MAD3LXU92B (China)Established: 17 Oct 2023Address: 44 Gongwei, Floor 1, Building 27, No. 487, Tianlin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200000, China | Former Google engineer Linwei Ding was convicted by a US federal jury on 29 January 2026 of stealing Google trade secrets on artificial intelligence technology to benefit himself and China-based technology companies. According to the State Department, Shanghai Zhisuan is the company Ding founded in 2023, and it knowingly engaged in, or benefited from, the theft of US trade secrets. |
What this means for your organisation
- 01
Screen against OFAC's non-SDN lists, not only the SDN List: Add the five entities from the Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions List (or the full Consolidated Sanctions List) and confirm your vendor feed carries the PAIPA tag; an SDN-only filter will miss them.
- 02
Treat a match as blocked: PAIPA section 2(b)(1)(A) blocks their property and prohibits transactions except the importation of goods; block or reject the payment as your procedures require and report it to OFAC.
- 03
Match on Chinese names, aliases and credit codes: Use the Chinese characters, the aliases MiraclePlus, Miracle Plus RMB Fund I and II and Mengxi Chuangtan, and the five Unified Social Credit Codes to confirm or discount hits.
- 04
Map MiraclePlus ownership: Review customers, investees and counterparties with MiraclePlus or its RMB funds as shareholders, and identify entities they own 50 per cent or more, which General License 2 also covers.
- 05
Use General License 2 only to wind down: It runs to 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on 19 January 2027, payments to a blocked entity go into a blocked US account, and it does not cover Shanghai Zhisuan; file a suspicious activity report where warranted.
Where this issue came from
The map plots the sources Youverify monitors. The pulsing markers are the two authorities cited in this issue: US State and US-OFAC. Hover any marker to name the sources read there.
Method statement
The five entries are read word for word from OFAC's Recent Actions notice of 19 October 2026 and both PAIPA General Licences from OFAC's published texts. The basis of the action is taken from the State Department's statement of the same day; each entity's role is as reported by Export Compliance Daily citing the State Department, as the State Department fact sheet was not retrieved. Every name and credit code was searched on the OFAC SDN, UK, EU and Swiss lists.
Corrections
No corrections issued for this issue. Corrections are published on the issue they affect, dated, with the original text retained.Cite this issue
Vyra from Youverify. "Washington Blocks Beijing's MiraclePlus and an Ex-Google Engineer's Start-up Over Stolen AI Trade Secrets." Youverify Sanctions Monitor, issue 150, 20 October 2026. https://youverify.co/en/sanctions/2026-10-20. Accessed 20 October 2026.