Kyrgyz national Sergei Zharnovnikov pleaded guilty June 25 to conspiracy to illegally export firearms and ammunition to Russia, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern Dstrict of New York announced. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The U.S. and law firm Husch Blackwell again swapped briefs June 13 in the firm’s Freedom of Information Act dispute. Husch Blackwell said the government, which provided a list of more than 100 disclosed and undisclosed documents related to the firm’s FOIA request regarding an Entity List listing when it filed for summary judgment (see 2505300055), still wasn’t making clear which documents were actually responsive to the request (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 1:24-02733).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week officially released its enforcement order, charging letter and settlement agreement involving Unicat Catalyst Technologies, the Texas-based industrial equipment supplier that recently was assessed millions of dollars in combined penalties by BIS, DOJ and the Office of Foreign Assets Control for allegedly violating export control and sanctions laws (see 2506170047).
A Spanish national living in the United Arab Emirates pleaded guilty on June 17 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin radio communications technology to Russian end users without a license, DOJ announced. Sentencing is set for Sept. 30.
A Venezuelan national and a U.S. citizen were arrested on June 13 and charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela by selling "chemical catalysts, industrial equipment, and associated services" to sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned steel mills and petrochemical companies, DOJ announced. The Venezuelan national, Juan Carlos Cairo-Padron, and the U.S. citizen, Thomas Fortinberry, both face a maximum of 20 years in prison for sanctions and money laundering counts and 10 years in prison for smuggling.
DOJ announced last week that it opened a civil forfeiture action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against more than $7.74 million allegedly laundered on behalf of the North Korean government. The funds were initially "restrained" as part of an indictment against North Korean banker Sim Hyon Sop, who was allegedly conspiring with North Korean information technology workers who illegally "amassed millions in cryptocurrency" as a means of evading sanctions on North Korea, DOJ said.
A Pakistani national was convicted last week of smuggling "Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry" meant for the Houthis in Yemen, DOJ announced. Muhammad Pahlawan will be sentenced on Sept. 22 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
A Chinese national pleaded guilty on June 9 to illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and "other military items" to North Korea by hiding them inside shipping containers leaving a California port, DOJ announced. Shenghua Wen admitted to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
A Russian citizen was charged with using his cryptocurrency company Evita to violate U.S. sanctions by funneling over $500 million in overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a 22-count indictment unsealed by DOJ on June 9. Iurii Gugnin, a resident of New York and a Russian citizen, was charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, among other charges.
The Supreme Court on June 5 said the Mexican government failed to "plausibly allege" that seven U.S. gun manufacturers "aided and abetted gun dealers' unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers." As a result, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) bars the lawsuit, a unanimous court held.