WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In January, Mo pleaded guilty to participating in a corporate conspiracy while serving as the Director of International Business for Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Company (DBN), a Chinese corporation with a corn seed subsidiary company.
"Mo Hailong participated in the theft of inbred corn seeds from fields in the Southern District of Iowa and elsewhere for the purpose of transporting the seeds to DBN in China," the release stated on Wednesday.
Mo, who is a legal resident of the United States, will serve three years of supervised released following his prison term, and was ordered to pay restitution.
US media reports from the time of Mo's arrest revealed that the US Department of Agriculture expects China's corn consumption to increase 41 percent by 2023, outpacing its production abilities. Chinese companies have not developed a high-yield corn hybrid such as the ones patented by Monsanto and DuPont.
