Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to two conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran "by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities" without getting a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced Jan. 9. Mokhtari will forfeit money, property and assets obtained from the schemes, including a Campbell, California, home, and a money judgment of over $2.8 million, DOJ said. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.
A 2022 Bureau of Industry and Security policy change has continued to lead to improved Chinese cooperation with BIS end-use checks, an agency official said Jan. 23.
Export Compliance Daily is providing this recap of export control and sanctions enforcement over the past year to assist export compliance professionals, lawyers and others in keeping pace with current enforcement trends. This guide summarizes the most notable enforcement actions by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Justice since Jan. 1, 2023.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week expanded its export controls against Russia and Belarus to cover a broader range of items and Harmonized System codes, including more industrial materials and aircraft parts. The agency also added new controls to better restrict exports used in Iran’s drone production, revised the de minimis treatment for certain military and spacecraft-related items, added a new license requirement exclusion and more.
Elizabeth Cannon, former global trade counsel with Microsoft, has joined the Bureau of Industry and Security as the executive director of the agency’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services, a BIS spokesperson said. That office is responsible for implementing certain prohibitions on information and communications technology and services transactions, restrictions on foreign access to certain U.S. sensitive data, and more. Cannon’s first day was Jan. 22.
Annual encryption self-classification reports and semi-annual sales reports for certain encryption items are due to the Bureau of Industry and Security by Feb. 1, Thompson Hine said in a reminder to clients last week. The self-classification report covers less sensitive items under the BIS License Exception ENC, and must provide information on encryption commodities, software and components exported during the previous calendar year. For the upcoming semi-annual sales report deadline, BIS requires information on exports that occurred between July 1 and Dec. 31 of the previous year.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week removed three companies from the Unverified List after it was able to successfully complete end-use checks.
Ilya Kahn, a citizen of the U.S., Russia and Israel, was arrested on Jan. 17 for allegedly aiding a scheme to illicitly ship sensitive technology from the U.S. to a sanctioned Russian business, DOJ announced. Kahn was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act.