Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Economic Espionage

ST. LOUIS – On January 6, 2022, Haitao Xiang, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty in front of District Court Judge Henry Autrey to conspiracy to commit economic espionage in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1831(a)(5).  Xiang conspired to steal a trade secret from an internationally based company doing business in St. Louis, Missouri for the purpose of benefitting a foreign government, that being the People’s Republic of China.

“Mr. Xiang used his insider status at a major international company to steal valuable trade secrets for use in his native China,” said United States Attorney Sayler Fleming.  “We cannot allow U.S. citizens or foreign nationals to hand sensitive business information over to competitors in other countries, and we will continue our vigorous criminal enforcement of economic espionage and trade secret laws.  These crimes present a danger to the U.S. economy and jeopardize our nation’s leadership in innovation and our national security.”

“When economic espionage is done at the behest of a foreign government, the loss of proprietary trade secrets destroys more than just the victim company. A foreign government can exploit and scale the information in such a way that it robs U.S. companies of their market share and competitive advantage,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans of the FBI St. Louis Division.  “The FBI aggressively investigates theft of trade secret and economic espionage.  If your organization is a victim or has questions about how to prevent such crimes, please contact FBI St. Louis at 314-589-2500.”

Xiang faces a maximum term of incarceration of 15 years, a potential fine of $5,000,000 and a term of supervised release of not more than three years.  Sentencing is set for April 7, 2022. 

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection and prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice and the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice.