ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Chinese national who pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing a trade secret from agribusiness giant Monsanto while he worked in Missouri has been sentenced to more than two years in prison. Federal prosecutors said Xiang transferred a trade secret to a memory card and then attempted to take it to China for the benefit of the Chinese government. Xiang worked as an imaging scientist for Monsanto and one of its subsidiaries, The Climate Corporation, from 2008 to 2017. Part of the platform was an algorithm called the Nutrient Optimizer, which the companies considered a trade secret and their intellectual property. In June 2017, the day after leaving employment with the companies, Xiang tried to fly to China, prosecutors said.

Source: New York Times April 07, 2022 18:34 UTC