The Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday, January 6th, that a Chinese person pled guilty in a US court to stealing trade secrets from Monsanto agriculture giant for the benefit of Beijing. “According to court documents, Xiang conspired to steal a trade secret from Monsanto, an international company based in St. Louis, for the purpose of benefitting a foreign government, namely the People’s Republic of China.”
As Xiang waited to board a trip to China, federal officials searched him at a US airport in June 2017 and discovered copies of a Monsanto proprietary algorithm, which is considered a trade secret and intellectual property. Xiang faces up to 15 years in prison and a potential 5 million US dollars fine.
