The United States has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the Southern District of Florida against a Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft, tail number T7-ESPRT, used by Nicolás Maduro Moros and his regime in violation of U.S. sanctions and export laws. The aircraft was seized last year in the Dominican Republic at the request of the U.S.
Despite the Justice Department's dismantling of inter-agency cooperation to enforce sanctions and combat corruption, cases begun before the change of regime continue to wend their way though the courts. March 10, The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the government’s motion to strike the ownership claim of Eduard Khudainatov and Millemarin Investments Ltd. concerning the Motor Yacht Amadea.
The White House having declared a policy of indifference to foreign corrupt practices, Justice officials abruptly scrubbed plans to participate in the American Bar Association's annual Conference on White Collar Crime in Miami. In a related development, two former Cognizant Technology Solutions executives charged over an alleged foreign bribery scheme may get a reprieve, as the newly installed US attorney for New Jersey, John Giordano asked the judge for a six-month extension “to allow sufficient time for my consideration” of the Executive Order. Two weeks earlier, the US Attorney’s office had indicated to the court that it was prepared to proceed with the trial.
The owner of a Raleigh, North Carolina electronics resale business, pleaded guilty to attempting to export accelerometer technology with military applications to China without a license. According to court documents, David Bohmerwald purchased 100 accelerometers from a U.S.-based electronics company, intending to export them to a Chinese business. Authorities were alerted when the U.S. electronics company found Bohmerwald’s purchase suspicious.
California man Liming Li pleaded guilty today in the United States District Court for the Central District of California to one count of possession of trade secrets. Li admitted to unlawfully retaining proprietary information from his former Southern California-based employers and using it to market his own competing company to a China-based entity. Li was arrested on May 6, 2023, at Ontario International Airport upon returning from Taiwan. A subsequent FBI search of his residence revealed numerous digital devices containing proprietary files belonging to his former employers.
Alabama man Ray Hunt, has been sentenced to five years in prison for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In July 2024, Hunt pleaded guilty to conspiring to export U.S.-origin goods to the Islamic Republic of Iran in violation of the U.S. trade sanctions. Beginning at least as early as 2015 and continuing to the time of his arrest in November 2022, Hunt conspired with two Iranian companies located in Tehran, Iran, to illegally export U.S.-manufactured industrial equipment for use in Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemical industries.
Matthew Borman, principal deputy assistant secretary of commerce for export administration and Eileen Albanese, director of the Office of National Security and Technology Transfer Controls, have been forced out of the Commerce Department, leaving the government's trade security functions hobbled. As reported earlier Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has suspended the processing of applications for new export licenses submitted after February 5th, 2025. As of presstime (24 February) the Bureau has made no formal announcment as to when or if processing will resume.
An Israeli national was sentenced Friday to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from U.S. manufacturers and suppliers to Russia, including for the benefit of sanctioned Russian airline companies. In addition, Gail Haimovich paid the full forfeiture amount of $2,024,435.44. Between approximately March 2022 and May 2023, Haimovich facilitated the export of aircraft parts and avionics, including those with missile technology applications, from the United States through the Southern District of Florida, to various third-party transhippers on behalf of Russian customers.
An American subsidiary of a Russian aircraft parts supplier, along with three of its current and former employees, have been charged federally with crimes related to a scheme to illegally export aircraft parts and components from the United States to Russia and Russian airline companies without the required licenses from the Department of Commerce. Flighttime Enterprises, Inc. and the individual defendants evaded the export restrictions imposed on Russia to ship aviation parts to Russia and Russian end users, including airlines subject to Department of Commerce Temporary Denial Orders, by mislabeling shipments, providing false certifications, and using intermediary companies and countries to obscure the true end destination and end users.
A customs broker pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients – businesses who ship goods into the United States from foreign countries – out of more than $5 million, including after he had been indicted on fraud charges, and to committing more than $1 million in tax evasion.
A Kyrgyz national and international arms dealer has been charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and illegal smuggling of firearms from the United States to Russia. Sergei Zharnovnikov was arrested on January 24 in Las Vegas, while attending the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. Zharnovnikov is accused of orchestrating a complex scheme to circumvent U.S. export controls by funneling semi-automatic rifle-pistols through his Kyrgyz company to Russia. The indictment details his illegal procurement of firearms from a U.S.-based company in Chesapeake, Virginia, and subsequent exportation, in violation of U.S. export laws.
The Justice Department announced Thursday that Dominican Republic authorities seized a Dassault Falcon 2000EX aircraft used by Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural-gas company, at the request of the U.S. government based on violations of U.S. export control and sanctions laws. The Justice Department previously announced in September 2024 the seizure of a Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft in the Dominican Republic that was owned and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro Moros and persons affiliated with him in Venezuela.
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment February 4, charging a Chinese national with seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets in connection with an alleged plan to steal from Google LLC proprietary information related to AI technology. Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, 38 was initially indicted in March 2024 on four counts of theft of trade secrets. The superseding indictment describes seven categories of trade secrets stolen by Ding and charges Ding with seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets.
The Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $37,000,000 civil money penalty against Brink’s Global Services USA, Inc. for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). As a result of Brink’s failures, hundreds of millions of dollars in bulk currency shipments were transmitted across the Southwest Border on behalf of high-risk entities—including a Mexican currency exchanger that later pleaded guilty to violating the BSA. This is FinCEN’s first enforcement action against an armored car company.
Her first full day as Attorney General, Pam Bondi issued a raft of policy changes, including a memorandum outlining the new administration's policies on charging, plea negotiations and sentencing. Tacked onto the end of the five-page memo, Ms. Bondi continued the purge of the National Security Division, disbanding the Foreign Influence Task Force and the National Security Division's Corporate Enforcement Unit, and instructing the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section to "focus on civil enforcement, regulatory initiatives, and public guidance." Another memo directs FCPA directs prosecutors to prioritize the investigation drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and to “shift focus away from cases that do not involve such a connection.”
The Justice Department Thursday announced its participation in a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, Romania, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Greece to disrupt and take down the infrastructure of the online cybercrime marketplaces known as Cracked and Nulled. The operation was announced in conjunction with Operation Talent, a multinational law enforcement operation supported by Europol to investigate Cracked and Nulled.
The Justice Department announced the indictment of five men for their involvement in a "laptop farming" scheme which involved obtaining remote IT work with US companies to generate revenue for the North Korean Government (DPRK). According to the indictment, the defendants used forged and stolen identity documents, including U.S. passports containing the stolen personally identifiable information of a U.S. person, to conceal the true identities of North Korean co-conspirators, so that these North Korean nationals could circumvent sanctions and other laws to obtain employment with U.S. companies.
The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed approximately $2.5 million in combined civil penalties against a California machine tool builder for permitting authorized distributors to sell equipment and repair parts to sanctioned entities in China and Russia, “Today’s coordinated resolution with OFAC demonstrates our resolve to hold accountable companies that do not put in place effective compliance programs to prevent exports to Entity Listed companies,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Kevin J. Kurland.
Miami real estate broker Roman Sinyavsky pleaded guilty today to engaging in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions and commit money laundering by conducting transactions involving blocked properties owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs Viktor Perevalov and Valeri Abramov. The properties, valued approximately $1.8 million were forfeited earlier this month. In a separate settlement, Sinyavsky and his company have agreed to pay a civil penalty of approximately $1,076,923.
A Chinese telecommunications company has admitted in federal court in Chicago that it conspired to steal digital mobile radio technology developed by Illinois-based Motorola Solutions, Inc. Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. pleaded guilty on Monday in the Northern District of Illinois to a federal charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Hytera may be fined up to $60 million. …
