Mo Hailong will spend three years in prison
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A Chinese man has been sentenced to three years in jail for conspiracy to steal trade secrets from DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto.
Mo Hailong plead guilty in January to sending 1,000 lbs (454 kg) of GMO corn seed back to China to be duplicated by scientists.
Sources say he worked for Kings Nower Seeds.
Evidence showed he sent the seeds to the Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co. The company’s CEO is also Mo’s brother-in-law.
Brian A. Jackson/iStock/Getty Images Plus
According to the Des Moines Register, U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose ignored the idea of sentencing Mo to community service.
“We need to send a message to China that this kind of criminal behavior is not tolerated in the United States,” she said.
In addition to jail time, Judge Rose will decide how much restitution needs to be paid back to the companies.
In 2013, Mo was caught, by one of DuPont Pioneer’s field managers, digging in a cornfield owned by the company.
He’s one of three men arrested in 2013 for trying to provide Chinese scientists with seed samples.
At the time, the FBI voiced its concerns over thefts of GMO seeds.
“Agriculture is an emerging trend that we’re seeing,” Robert Anderson, Jr., assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, told the New York Times. “It’s pretty clear cut. Before then, the majority of the countries and hostile intelligence services within those countries were stealing the other stuff.”