A Chinese resident and wife of a seed company chairman has been indicted for allegedly attempting to steal seeds from DuPont Pioneer and other companies to aid their enterprise.
Nicholas A. Klinefeldt announced in Iowa the arrest and indictment of Mo Yun, for conspiracy to steal trade secrets. Mo Hailong was previously arrested in December of 2013. Klinefeldt is the U.S. District Attorney for Southern Iowa, Des Moines.
The indictment alleges that from on or about January of 2007, to on or about December of 2012, Mo Hailong, Mo Yun and other individuals worked to gain the trade secrets of several U.S. based seed companies, and transport those trade secrets to China for the benefit of their China-based seed company.
Mo Yun was employed by Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Company (DBN) from August 2001 to March 2009. DBN is believed to be a Chinese conglomerate with a corn seed subsidiary company, Kings Nower Seed.
Mo Yun was in charge of DBN’s research project management. Yun is the sister of Mo Hailong and the spouse of DBN founder and current chairman Dr. Shao Genhuo. Mo Yun, Mo Hailong and others are alleged to have conspired to steal valuable inbred corn seed from fields in Iowa and Illinois. This “inbred” or “parent” line of seed constitutes valuable intellectual property of a seed producer.
After stealing the inbred corn seed, conspirators attempted to transfer the inbred corn seed to China.
The investigation was initiated when DuPont Pioneer security staff detected suspicious activity, and alerted the FBI. DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto and their staff have been cooperative throughout the investigation, which is being led by the FBI, the U.S. Attorneys office stated.
“The FBI’s investigation into Mo Yun should not go unnoticed by those who seek to steal trade secrets and private business information,” said Thomas R. Metz, special Agent in Charge of the Omaha Division of the FBI. “Identifying and deterring those focused on stealing trade secrets, propriety and confidential information or national security information is the number two priority for the FBI second only to terrorism.”
