Shane Todd, a PhD in electrical engineering, started working at IME (Institute of Microelectronics), a company in Singapore, in December of 2010. After several months with the IME, Shane was given the task of finding equipment vital to GaN research. He determined that a MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) machine made by Veeco (a company in New Jersey) best suited their needs. IME bought the multimillion dollar machine and sent Shane for training on it in January, 2012. This “one of a kind” machine is highly technical, with a dual use in commercial and in military application, and it requires a large amount of expertise in the area of GaN (Gallium Nitride).

Upon returning to Singapore, Dr. Todd felt increasingly uncomfortable with the work he was doing with the Chinese company Huawei, to the point Shane told his family that he was being asked to compromise US security and he feared for his life. Shane refused to do what he was being asked to do and turned in his sixty day notice at IME. Shane found a good job with a company in Virginia, and bought a ticket to fly back to the US on July 1, 2012. Shane was killed late June 22nd, or 23rd, right after his last day of work. The family believes Shane was murdered because he refused to become involved with the transfer of illegal technology to China. This transfer involved the MOCVD technology, of which China and the US do not have a trade agreement. See “Death In Singapore”.

On February 16, 2013, the Financial Times, after extensive investigation published the story of Shane’s death which brought worldwide attention with the implication of murder. In their efforts to uncover more information about their son's death, the family continued to seek political and media attention. Their evidence was overwhelming and they got the attention they were seeking, especially from the Singapore Police (SPF), who considered no other theory but suicide.

Although the SPF confiscated Dr. Todd’s two computers, his cell phone, and his diary, his parents found Shane’s external hard drive in his Singapore apartment which led them to believe Shane was murdered. In their quest for truth, the family continued to send evidence to the SPF in hopes that they would broaden their investigation to include the possibility of murder. When the SPF asked the family for the external hard drive the family said they would send it to SPF if they were willing to include the FBI in the investigation. The SPF refused to do so.

What the parents of Shane Todd did not know was that every shred of evidence they sent to the Singapore police was used against them in Singapore at the court inquiry into the cause of Dr. Todd’s death. The State engaged five of its top lawyers and IME hired five top lawyers to prove that Dr. Todd committed suicide. The family was told it would be an open, non-adversarial, fact finding trial, with everyone on the same side. This could not have been further from the truth. The truth was that the only thing these ten lawyers were there to prove was suicide.

The Inquiry involved a massive cover-up, in which the inadequacies of the investigation were buried and the truth was suppressed. The Coroner ruled “suicide” on July 8, 2013. The following is a quote from Michael Dee an American who lives in Singapore who wrote a 10,000 word analysis of the Coroner’s ruling.

“Following the July 8th release of the Coroner’s Findings [1] on Shane Todd’s death the Straits Times[1] ran an editorial on July 17th (“Recognizing the Truth in the Shane Todd Case”). It expressed the view that the Coroner’s Report puts to rest the controversy over Shane Todd’s death and criticizes the family for not accepting this report and continuing to pursue the truth as to the death of their son. However, a reading of this report raises more questions and highlights more issues and anomalies than it answers.”