US Businessman Pleads Guilty After Trying to Ship Export Controlled Accelerometers to China
A North Carolina business owner pleaded guilty last week after trying to export accelerometer technology with military uses to China without a Bureau of Industry and Security license, DOJ said. David Bohmerwald, owner of the electronics resale business Components Cooper Inc., faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison
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Bohmerwald tried to send 100 export-controlled accelerometers to a Chinese company after buying them from a U.S.-based electronics business, DOJ said, which notified U.S. law enforcement about Bohmerwald’s “suspicious and unusual purchase request.” Bohmerwald claimed the accelerometers were for an end user in Missouri, but the Missouri company denied to federal agents that it had placed an order with Bohmerwald or Components Cooper.
After buying the accelerometers, Bohmerwald dropped two packages at a local FedEx store, one of which was addressed to a business in China. DOJ said a BIS agent detained the package, found it contained 100 accelerometers and confirmed Bohmerwald hadn’t received an export license to ship the items. Bohmerwald also lied about the value of the package, saying the items were worth $100 when they were actually worth nearly $20,000.
Bohmerwald admitted to federal agents that he bought the accelerometers on behalf of a Chinese company and that he knew they were subject to export controls, DOJ said. The accelerometers can be used by militaries for “structural testing, monitoring, flight control, and navigation systems,” the agency said, including in missiles.
DOJ said the case was coordinated through the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, the joint group created during the Biden administration by Commerce, DOJ and other agencies to pool resources toward investigations of trade violations involving critical technologies (see 2411250027).