Ex-Boeing engineer gets 15 years in US spy case

LOS ANGELES Feb 8 (Reuters) - A former Boeing Co (BA.N) engineer who was convicted last year of passing space shuttle secrets to the Chinese government in America's first economic espionage trial was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was found guilty of economic espionage in July after a 10-day trial in Santa Ana, California.

Chung, 73, became the first defendant convicted at trial since the Economic Espionage Act became law in 1996.

A former employee of Rockwell International and Boeing, he spent most of his 30-year career as a stress analyst on the forward fuselage section of the space shuttle. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Will Dunham)