Chinese individuals indicted for stealing US rice technology
Two Chinese nationals have been charged with conspiracy to steal rice technology from a US-based biotechnology company.
Liu Xuejun, 49, and 36-year-old Sun Yue were indicted by a federal grand jury at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on Friday, August 3 for their involvement in the theft of rice seeds that were designed to be used in the medical field.
The seeds, which contain certain proteins, were developed by Ventria Bioscience. The proteins can be removed from the rice and used in medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Ventria has invested approximately $75 million in developing the seeds.
In 2013, Xuejun and Yue visited several US rice research and production facilities, said the DoJ.
Their visit was organised by Weiqiang Zhang, who worked at Ventria’s rice production facility in Kansas, and Wengui Yan, employed at Dale Bumpers Rice Research Center in Arkansas.
According to the DoJ, Yue and Xuejun were stopped at Honolulu airport, in Hawaii, on the way back from their visit, when US Customs and Border Protection found stolen rice seeds in their luggage.
Cody Hiland, US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said “we remain vigilant in our efforts at protecting both intellectual and real property from theft by other nations, and it is our intention to present our case to an Arkansas jury based on the crimes alleged in the indictment”.
Diane Upchurch, special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Little Rock, Arkansas, added that the indictment should not go unnoticed by those seeking to steal US trade secrets and technology.
“This type of crime is consistent with China’s social and economic five-year plan to modernise their seed industry,” she said.
In an earlier connected case, Zhang and Yan were convicted for their involvement in the scheme, with Zhang being sentenced to ten years in prison and Yan to one year.
Ten years is the maximum penalty for conspiracy to steal trade secrets in the US.
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