The U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 3 order denied Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's petition for certiorari over his sanctions designation. The move comes shortly after he, along with his associates, were charged with conspiring to violate his sanctions listing. The court rejected the cert motion without issuing any further explanation.
Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and his associates Natalia Bardakova and Olga Shriki were charged with conspiring to violate the U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska and one of his corporations, Basic Element Limited, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Shriki also was charged with obstruction of justice relating to her alleged deletion of electronic records that pertained to her participation in the sanctions evasion scheme. Charges also were levied against Ekaterina Voronina, Deripaska's girlfriend, for making false statements to government officials during her attempted entry into the U.S. to give birth to Deripaska's child.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week revoked export privileges for three people after they illegally exported controlled firearms and ammunition from the U.S.
Peter Kisang Kim, a former engineer at Broadcom, was sentenced to eight months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Broadcom, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Sept. 20. A Ben Lomond, California, resident, Kim in May pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing trade secrets to help his new company's business prospects. Fifteen other counts of trade secrets theft were dismissed in connection with his sentencing. Following his incarceration, Kim will serve a three-year supervised release term.
Brazilian airline GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will pay over $41 million to settle criminal and civil investigations by DOJ, SEC and Brazilian authorities on bribery charges, DOJ announced in a Sept. 15 news release. DOJ and the airline entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement over charges that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the airline agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $17 million.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a Sept. 7 opinion affirmed the conviction and sentence of Iranian national Mehrdad Ansari for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas convicted Ansari for his role in a scheme to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iran trade embargo. The appellate court upheld his conviction, rejecting his two constitutional arguments against the district court's ruling and Ansari's evidentiary claims (United States v. Ansari, 5th Cir. #21-50915).
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently revoked export privileges for two people after they illegally exported controlled items from the U.S.
Cary Yan and Gina Zhou, two Marshall Islands nationals charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arrived in the U.S. Sept. 2 after being extradited from Thailand, the DOJ announced Sept. 2. The pair is charged with violating the FCPA, money laundering and conspiracy in a scheme to bribe elected officials in the Marshall Islands to get certain legislation passed. The August 2020 five-count indictment charged Yan and Zhou with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and one count of committing international money laundering.
Juan Jose Roque, a Mexican national illegally living in Garland, Texas, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for illicitly exporting firearms from the U.S. to Mexico, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced Aug. 29. Roque pleaded guilty in April, and is expected to face removal proceedings after his imprisonment given that he is not a U.S. citizen, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Over $1.2 million in forfeited funds from an international tax fraud and money laundering scheme for fuel imported into Romania will be sent back to the Romanian government, DOJ announced. The funds came from the sale of property located in Washington state that was owned by a Romanian couple who were extradited to Romania, the Aug. 26 news release said.