Chinese man sentenced for stealing Monsanto trade secret

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Chinese national who pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing a trade secret from Monsanto while he worked in Missouri has been sentenced to more than two years in prison. Haitao Xiang, formerly of Chesterfield, Missouri, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in St. Louis to 29 months in prison and fined $150,000. Xiang also will undergo three years of supervision upon his release from prison. In January, Xiang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit economic espionage. Federal prosecutors say Xiang transferred a trade secret to a memory card for the benefit of the Chinese government while he was an imaging scientist for Monsanto and its subsidiary, The Climate Corporation, from 2008 to 2017.