Jorge Orencel, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was sentenced to six months in federal prison and one year of supervised release for attempting to smuggle goods out of the U.S. without the necessary export license, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland said Feb. 22. Orencel, who pleaded guilty, was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for attempting to ship a fission chamber and five ionization chambers to a company in Hong Kong.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week revoked export privileges for five U.S. residents who illegally exported defense items or weapons ammunition to Mexico.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a California district court ruling dismissing a case brought by investors in U.S. semiconductor developer Qualcomm over an alleged scheme by the American company to illegally block Singapore firm Broadcom's bid to take over Qualcomm. Investors had argued Qualcomm had improperly lobbied lawmakers and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to block the acquisition.

Mohsen Mohammadi-Mohammadi, an Iranian national who has lived in Iran and Laredo, Texas, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in an international trade-based money laundering scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas said Feb. 9. District Court Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo also ordered the forfeiture of $177,345 -- the amount of the money laundered through Mohammadi's business. From 2011 to 2013, Mohammadi and others conspired to launder drug trafficking money through a scheme dubbed the "Black Market Peso Exchange." The co-conspirators would pick up the drug proceeds from various U.S. cities then transport it to Laredo, where the money was then laundered through commodities businesses such as perfume vendors, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Mohammadi's business was called Mav Trading Inc.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released Feb. 8. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for violations of the Trading With the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Clean Diamond Trade Act. The agency also updated two references to “one-half the IEEPA maximum CMP from $155,781 to $165,474” and adjusted the recordkeeping CMP amounts in OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines. The changes take effect Feb. 9.

The U.S. accused China-based telecommunications company Hytera Communications Corp. of conspiring to commit theft of trade secrets by working with former employees of Motorola Solutions Inc. to steal their former employer's digital mobile radio technology. Laying out the claims against Hytera in an unsealed indictment filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, the Department of Justice said that the former Motorola employees left Motorola to work for Hytera then lied about their intended moves in exit interviews with the Chicago-based company. On their way out the door, the former employees took proprietary and trade secret information for the DMR technology. Hytera stands accused of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and individual counts of possession or attempted possession of stolen trade secrets. The co-defendants' names were redacted in the indictment. The Chinese firm faces a fine of three times the value of the stolen trade secrets, including expenses for research, design and other costs.

Saber Fakih of the United Kingdom pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to illegally exporting and attempting to export an industrial microwave system (IMS) and counter-drone system to Iran, the Department of Justice said. Fakih also admitted conspiring with Bader Fakih of Canada; Altaf Faquih from the United Arab Emirates; and Alireza Taghavi of Iran. Fakih's actions violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulation, DOJ said Jan. 27.

A California-based semiconductor and telecommunications technology company recently received a warning letter from the Bureau of Industry and Security after it voluntarily disclosed possible export violations. The company, Credo, said it “inadvertently provided three evaluation boards of nominal value” to two customers without required export licenses. Credo submitted a final voluntary self-disclosure to BIS in June and received a warning letter in September with no penalties, according to a January Securities & Exchange Commission filing. Credo didn’t say where the customers were located but said it sells its products in Asia, including in markets where “multiple” companies have been added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List or the military end-user list. The company said it’s “in the process” of improving its export compliance policies and procedures but believes it “remedied the deficiencies that resulted in the apparent violations through additional training, system enhancements and enhanced export controls.”

Six individuals were named in an indictment at the U.S. District Court for Central California for their roles in a scheme to smuggle weapons and ammunition from the U.S. to a Mexican drug cartel, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California said Jan. 24. Four of the six were arrested Jan. 19 as part of Operation Semper Infidelis conducted by a Los Angeles Strike Force investigation. The operation targeted a weapons trafficking organization that provided firearms and ammunition to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The indictment charges the six individuals with conspiracy to violate federal export laws by shipping the weapons to Mexico.

Although the Department of Justice’s China’s initiative (see 2012030033) is still likely an agency priority, the program has slowed under the Biden administration and may lead to less export control and sanctions-related prosecutions, said George Pence, a trade lawyer with Akin Gump. Pence, speaking during a Jan. 20 webinar hosted by the law firm, said he thinks “criminal export and sanctions prosecutions are along for the ride but are not driving the China initiative.”