Yu Long, a Chinese citizen and former employee of the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) pleaded guilty to the export and the attempted export of defense articles from the U.S. in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. The maximum possible sentence Long can serve is 20 years. Long, who was a legal resident in…
The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently issued administrative settlement documents against a company called Fulfill Your Packages (“FYP”). Under the settlement agreement, FYP agreed to pay a $250,000 fine, of which $190,000 was suspended on the condition that the company has no export violations over the next two years. According to the…
For any industry, the “cost of doing business” inevitably increases over time. For companies engaged in ITAR-controlled work, the cost of not doing business compliantly is about to skyrocket. DDTC has announced that, effective August 1, 2016, the maximum amount that can be levied as a Civil Monetary Penalty will change. Most notably, for each…
A Florida woman, Amin Yu (a/k/a Yu Amin, a/k/a Amy Yu) was charged in a superseding indictment with conspiring to illegally export U.S. technology to a Chinese state-owned entity. This technology is used in underwater drones. Among other charges in the indictment (including illegal exports, money laundering, and acting as an agent for a foreign…
How do you build a “culture of trade compliance” in your organization? You might as well ask, “How do you eat an elephant?” In both cases, the answer is seemingly simple, yet also complex – one bite at a time. A quick search for “culture of compliance” on the internet yields thousands of scholarly and…
Chinese national Fuyi “Frank” Sun has been arrested in connection with a plot to illegally export high-grade carbon fiber from the United States to China. Sun was arrested while traveling to New York to close a deal with a distributor of the fiber which is typically used for aerospace and military purposes. Turns out the…
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) denied export privileges for two individuals and three companies. The actions center around a conspiracy to illegally export web-monitoring and controlling equipment and software to Syria. In particular, this conspiracy involved the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE). “The settlement announced today results…
Recently, a South Carolina company, STREIT USA, was fined $3.5 million to settle charges related to the sale of U.S.-origin vehicles to end-users located in multiple countries. The company is part of STREIT Group, which is a global manufacturer of armored vehicles for military, security, luxury and other markets. As part of the settlement, $1.5…
Last week, oil and gas giant Schlumberger plead guilty to facilitating trade with Iran and Sudan, in violation of U.S. sanctions. The parent company’s Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. (SOHL), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Schlumberger Ltd., agreed to a guilty plea for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by willfully…
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once famously said: “The only thing that is constant is change.” In the world of trade compliance, country sanctions and restricted parties lists are no exception to this rule. Time and time again, I see people with printed lists of countries posted near their computers, to remind them of where they…