Montana Man TDO’d for Walkie Talkie Sale

Kenneth Scott and his company, Mission Electronics, have agreed not to engage in the export of EAR controlled material for a period of twenty years.  Scott was charged in June 2022 by the U.S. Department of Commerce with violating multiple export control regulations related to the sale of two Motorola handheld radios to Iran with a total value of approximately $1,700..

The charges include acting with knowledge of a violation, misrepresenting and concealing facts to a U.S. government official, engaging in prohibited conduct related to the failure to file electronic export information, and failure to comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

According to the charges, Scott sold, transferred, or negotiated the sale of the radios to an undercover agent, knowing that the items were destined for Iran without the required U.S. government authorization. He also failed to file electronic export information for the shipment of the radios and failed to comply with recordkeeping requirements.

In addition, Scott made false or misleading statements during interviews with FBI and BIS Special Agents, including denying that he had ever shipped anything to Iran and falsifying an email to hide his knowledge of the destination of the radios.

In responding to the BIS administrative subpoena, Scott advised the BIS Special Agent that he has never “kept a record or a file on this stuff, as I had no idea I had to. . . . Some of my shipping records were on my old computer that was damaged by a lightning strike about 3 years ago.”

After the BIS Special Agent granted Scott additional time to respond to the subpoena, he provided some records, including a list of freight forwarders/brokers and invoices related to exports to approximately 15 countries. For almost all of these exports, however, he failed to produce any of the other requested records, including quotes, requests for quotes, waybills, bills of lading, payment records, or emails and other correspondence.

Mission Communications is a Reseller of New and Used Motorola equipment, including New and Reconditioned Motorola Infrastructure, located in St. Ignatius, MT (Pop. 780).