Belgian Man Charged With Trying to Illegally Export US Tech to China, Russia
The U.S. charged Hans Maria De Geetere, a Belgian national, in two separate indictments for allegedly helping to illegally export "military-grade technology" from the U.S. to end-users in China and Russia, DOJ said. Along with the unsealing of the indictments in the U.S. district courts for the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Oregon, DOJ said the Belgian government arrested De Geetere, and others, and executed search warrants as part of the investigation (United States v. Hans De Geetere, E.D. Tex. # 4:19-cr-00207) (United States v. Hans De Geetere, D. Ore. # 3:23-cr-00374).
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The Treasury Department sanctioned De Geetere this week, and the Bureau of Industry and Security added De Geetere and his affiliated companies to the Entity List (see 2312050046).
DOJ alleged that De Geetere and Florida resident Eddy Johan Coopmans conspired to export controlled field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits to Russia and short-wave infrared (SWIR) surveillance cameras to China from 2016 to 2018. The pair allegedly wired over $1.2 million in a bid to acquire the items. Coopmans pleaded guilty in October 2022 to the charges (see 2210060017).
The agency also said De Geetere and Coopmans conspired to smuggle goods out of the U.S. in violation of U.S. export controls, conspired to launder monetary instruments and illegally exported defense articles. DOJ said De Geetere "caused false and misleading statements to be made to legitimate companies that sold FPGA Circuits and SWIR Cameras" and to "government officials who regulate the export of FPGA Circuits and SWIR Cameras."
In Oregon, DOJ alleged that from 2021 to 2023, De Geetere tried to illegally procure controlled accelerometers, worth over $930,000, for export to China. These devices "measure the vibration, tilt and acceleration of motion fo a structure and are often used in aerospace and military systems," DOJ said. The Belgian allegedly gave a BIS agent a false statement in saying the accelerometers were meant for export to Belgium when they were actually meant for China.
De Geetere first contacted the undercover BIS agent in May 2022 about buying accelerometers, the indictment said, adding that the agent was posing as a reseller for a U.S. company. De Geetere sent a purchase order for 6,400 units, declaring a Belgian company as the end user.
The indictment alleges that De Geetere lied and that he planned to send the goods to a Hong Kong entity. DOJ said the shipment of accelerometers was "later detained and never delivered."
De Geetere faces three counts of making false statements and one count of smuggling goods in Oregon. He faces a maximum five-year prison stint for the conspiracy to smuggle goods charge and for each false statements charge, 10 years for smuggling and 20 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering.