Mo Yun was arrested in Los Angeles and indicted today on a charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. The federal indictment says she is one of seven Chinese nationals to be indicted as part of an operation to steal patented seed corn from fields in Iowa and Illinois and ship it to China to try to reproduce its traits.
Federal prosecutors in Des Moines say the team worked for Chinese conglomerate DBN Group.
Mo Yun is the wife of DBN's chairman, Shao Genhou, and the sister of Mo Hailong, the international business director for the company, who was arrested in December and is awaiting trial.