Court Approves Funds Seizure Said to be Related to Exports to North Korea, Syria
A federal judge approved the civil forfeiture of nearly $150,000 that was said to be laundered "to further [business owner Tsai Hsien-Tsai's] exportation of goods for the benefit of North Korean and Syrian entities involved in the respective regimes’ weapons programs," the Department of Justice said in an April 3 news release. The complaint alleged that Taiwan-based Trans Multi and its owner, also known as Alex Tsai, had laundered U.S. money related to illegal dealings with Syria and North Korea, the DOJ said. “The Court found that these blocked funds were the product of Tsai’s attempts to sell tools to a Syrian company using U.S. Dollars and a series of front companies,” U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu said. “Sanctions laws are critical to our national security and foreign policy interests, and this case demonstrates that we will seek significant remedies against those companies that violate them.”
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The Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control designated Tsai, his wife and two companies he controlled in 2009, the DOJ said. "Between April and June of 2012, OFAC blocked $148,500 in the process of being transferred from a bank account in Hong Kong controlled by Tsai to a Taiwanese bank account in the name of his daughter as it traveled through the United States correspondent banking system," it said. The complaint was filed in 2016.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Richard Leon ruled that "there was no genuine dispute of material fact with respect to the government’s complaint, and that the Court could 'easily conclude' that the funds involved in this suit stemmed from Tsai’s attempts to evade sanctions."