Maryland Man Sentenced to Prison for Trying to Ship Goods to Hong Kong Without Export License
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.
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Orencel owned and operated shipping company Sumtech, which told prospective customers it could ship goods to South America, Asia and the Middle East. In 2016, Orencel was approached by an employee of a Hong Kong company that wanted to buy five ionization chambers and one fission chamber from an unnamed, New York-based manufacturer. The Hong Kong contact said this manufacturer needed an end-user statement and export license if the goods were to be shipped out of the U.S., the Department of Justice said. Orencel took the order to the manufacturer, saying the intended destination was Argentina.
In 2017, agents from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry Security, Office of Export Enforcement provided Orencel copies of the relevant export regulations, DOJ said. He told the agents he "always obtained export licenses when required," DOJ said. A week later, Orencel shipped the ionization chamber to Hong Kong, having not yet received the fission chamber. Just before receiving the fission chamber, Orencel undervalued the chamber and falsified its final destination in a Shipper's Letter of Instruction. Law enforcement seized the package in New York before further shipping took place. Orencel admitted he had lied about the chamber's final destination and undervaluing the product.