. . Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Economic Espionage Conspiracy . FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, January 6, 2022 Xiang Haitao, 44, a Chinese national formerly residing in Chesterfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit economic espionage. According to court documents, Xiang conspired to steal a trade secret from Monsanto, an international company based in St. Louis, for the purpose of benefitting a foreign government, namely the P...