A Texas businessman and former procurement officer for Venezuela’s state-owned and sanctioned energy company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., was sentenced to 70 months in prison after scheming to secure corrupt PdVSA contracts, the Justice Department said in a Feb. 19 press release. Alfonzo Eliezer Gravina Munoz laundered the proceeds of a bribery scheme involving U.S.-based companies and Venezuelan government officials in exchange for contracts with Citgo Petroleum Corp., a Houston-based subsidiary of PdVSA, the Justice Department said. Munoz was also ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Three former executives were charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after they tried to bribe Indonesian government officials to secure contracts, the Justice department said in a Feb. 18 press release. The agency charged Reza Moenaf and Eko Sulianto -- two executives of the Indonesian subsidiary of the French power and transportation company Alstom -- and Junji Kusunoki -- a former executive with Japanese trading company Marubeni Corporation -- with FCPA violations and money laundering. The agency said the charges are part of a “wide-ranging investigation” into corrupt practices by Alstom and Marubeni, which has resulted in guilty pleas from five other people and the two companies.

The State Department announced penalties on foreign entities for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, the agency said in a notice. The entities transferred items subject to multilateral control lists -- such as the Wassenaar Arrangement -- that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production. The entities mentioned in the notice include companies based in China, Iraq, Russia and Turkey and are barred from purchasing items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act. In addition, the State Department will suspend any current export licenses used by the companies; State will bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations; and government agencies are barred from entering into procurement contracts with them. The measures took effect Feb. 3.

Five U.S. citizens were charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after they tried to buy oil from Iran before selling it to a Chinese refinery, the Justice Department said Feb. 11. Nicholas Hovan, Robert Thwaites, Nicholas James Fuchs and Daniel Ray Lane arranged to buy the Iranian oil and sell it to a refinery represented by Zhenyu Wang, the agency said. Lane offered to launder money through his company Stack Royalties, the Justice Department said, and Fuchs and Thwaites planned to set up offshore accounts to avoid detection by U.S. authorities. The people also agreed to use a Polish shell company as a “straw seller” of the oil and allegedly planned to sell two shipments per month “for great profit.” If convicted, they each face a maximum 25-year prison sentence and a $1.25 million fine.

Kuwait Airways Corp. was fined $700,000 as part of a settlement agreement with the Commerce Department after the corporation violated the Export Administration Regulations through antiboycott violations, Commerce said in an order released this month. The company, based in New Jersey, committed 14 violations of the EAR when it complied with an “unsanctioned foreign boycott” by refusing to accept passengers with Israeli passports. Commerce said it will suspend $100,000 of the fine if Kuwait Airways does not commit another violation of the Export Control Reform Act or of the EAR within the next three years, if it pays the remainder of the fine on time, and if it complies with the terms of the settlement. If the airline does not comply with the settlement, BIS may revoke the airline’s export privileges for one year and revoke the corporation’s current export licenses and exceptions.

A group of more than 20 states and Washington, D.C., asked a court to place a preliminary injunction on the Trump administration's plans to transfer gun export controls from the State Department to the Commerce Department, according to a motion filed Feb. 6. The motion says the states will “suffer irreparable harm” if an injunction is not issued. The states filed a lawsuit last month (see 2001240047) that asked the court to vacate final rules released by Commerce and State that would finalize the transfer of the export controls on March 9 (see 2001170030). The lawsuit said the rules will create a dangerous lack of oversight over goods used for the 3D printing of guns and violate federal notice-and-comment procedures and the Arms Export Control Act.

Three people were convicted on fraud, money-laundering and smuggling charges after the Justice Department said they created a fake export scheme to make tens of millions of dollars, according to a Feb. 7 press release. Florida resident Johnny Grobman, along with Raoul Doekhie and Sherida Nabi of Suriname, bought U.S. goods at “deeply discounted” prices after they told U.S. manufacturers the products would be shipped overseas as part of a government procurement contract in Suriname. Instead of exporting the goods, the three people sold the items in the U.S. and split the profits, the Justice Department said.

A Chinese national and former Raytheon engineer was charged with violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations after he took a company laptop with sensitive military technology data to China, according to an indictment filed Jan. 29. Wei Sun, who worked as an electrical engineer for Raytheon Missile Systems from 2009 to 2019, had access to “advanced and sensitive defense-related technology” on his laptop, the indictment said, and his trip overseas constituted an illegal export of ITAR-controlled defense articles. Sun’s computer contained controlled data covered under Categories 4 (launch vehicles, guided missiles, ballistic missiles, rockets, torpedoes, bombs and mines) and 11 (military electronics) of the ITAR, including a “Field Programmable Gate Array,” according to an unsealed complaint.

An Iranian citizen who was head of a Dubai-based export company was sentenced to time served and fined $5,000 for illegally exporting gas turbine parts to Iran, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 30 press release. Mahin Mojtahedzadeh pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iran sanctions in July 2019 after using her company, ETCO-FZC, to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran (see 1907190040). Mojtahedzadeh, who has been held in custody since November 2018, will be transferred to immigration custody and be removed from the U.S., the Justice Department said.

An Iranian national faces several fraud-related charges for his involvement with a joint project with the Iranian and Venezuelan governments to violate U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 31 press release. Bahram Karimi was a member of a committee that oversaw the construction of “thousands” of housing units in Venezuela with help from Iran, the agency said. Karimi worked with others to defraud U.S. banks by hiding the role of Iranian parties in payments sent through the U.S. banking system, which violated U.S. economic sanctions. Karimi made at least 15 payments worth about $115 million. Karimi was also charged with making false statements after he was interviewed by two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in January 2020 and said he did not know U.S. sanctions against Iran applied to Iranian companies or people. Karimi faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for both conspiring to commit bank fraud and committing bank fraud. He also faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for making false statements.