The U.K. must reassess whether it should investigate cotton imports from China suspected of being made with forced labor after an appellate court ruled last month that the country’s National Crime Agency wrongly decided against opening the probe.

Douglas Robertson, former vice president of KanRus Trading Co., pleaded guilty on July 2 to conspiring to violate U.S. export laws by shipping "sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia," DOJ announced.

A Hallandale, Florida, resident was charged on July 2 with smuggling controlled goods into Russia from the U.S. Kirill Gordei, president of Florida-based freight forwarding company Apelsin Logistics, faces three counts -- conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., smuggling goods from the U.S. and exporting a spectrometer, a controlled item, unlawfully -- DOJ announced. A Belarus citizen and U.S. permanent resident, Gordei faces maximums of five, 10 and 20 years in prison for the charges, respectively.

A federal judge has ordered the Biden administration to end its temporary pause in approving liquefied natural gas (LNG) export applications.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on July 1 updated its “Don’t Let This Happen to You!” guidance, a 78-page compilation of enforcement cases involving criminal and administrative export violations. Added cases involve violations of U.S. antiboycott regulations, firearms export violations, export violations related to China and Iran, noncompliance with a BIS settlement agreement, and a recent voluntary disclosure submitted by Indiana University involving illegal exports of genetically modified fruit flies (see 2406250022). “Exporters are encouraged to review the publication, which provides useful illustrations of the type of conduct that gets companies and universities in trouble,” BIS said.

DOJ struck a deal with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, members of his family and trust entities he established to settle two civil forfeiture cases stemming from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad international embezzlement scheme, DOJ announced.

PetroChina International America -- a subsidiary of oil and gas giant PetroChina International Co. -- agreed to pay a $14.5 million fine for violating U.S. export laws, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas announced this week.

Joly Germine of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally export firearms to Haiti and for laundering money paid for U.S. hostages held by the Haitian gang 400 Mawozo, DOJ announced.

The State Department announced three-year debarments this week against 16 people convicted of violating U.S. export control laws. All 16 are “generally ineligible” to participate in activity controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations for three years following their dates of conviction. At the end of that period, they must apply to be reinstated from their debarment before engaging in ITAR activities.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued two temporary denial orders last week as part of the Biden administration's latest package of Russia-related sanctions and export controls (see 2406120036), targeting companies and people in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, Turkey and Indonesia for sending export controlled items to Russia.