A Venezuelan business executive was indicted on money laundering charges for his alleged involvement in a bribery scheme to benefit officials at Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., the Justice Department said Nov. 25. Natalino D’Amato allegedly worked with others to launder funds from the bribery scheme to and from bank accounts in Florida, including for joint ventures controlled by U.S.-sanctioned PdVSA. Companies controlled by D’Amato received about $160 million from PdVSA’s joint ventures, and D’Amato used a portion of that money to bribe Venezuelan officials, the Justice Department alleged. The U.S. is seeking to seize about $45 million belonging to bank accounts involved with the scheme.
The Commerce Department again renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, according to a Nov. 24 notice. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008, with the last denial renewed May 29. The latest renewal is for 180 days beyond Nov. 24, Commerce said.
The State Department announced penalties on foreign entities for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. The entities transferred items subject to multilateral control lists that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production, the agency said in a notice released Nov. 24. The entities are: China-based Chengdu Best New Materials Co. Ltd. and Zibo Elim Trade Co.; and Russia-based Aviazapchast, Joint Stock Company Elecon and the Nilco Group. The companies and their subsidiaries are barred from purchasing items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act. The State Department will also suspend any current export licenses used by the companies and bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations. Government agencies are barred from entering into procurement contracts with them. The measures took effect Nov. 6.
The United Kingdom collected about £700,000 ($935,000) in fines related to export violations between March and September, a Nov. 24 notice said. The fines, which ranged from £1,000 ($1,335) to more than £200,000 ($267,000), were related to unlicensed exports of dual-use goods, military goods and “related activity” controlled under the U.K.’s Export Control Order 2008.
A Chinese national who is a naturalized U.S. citizen and former Raytheon Missiles and Defense engineer was sentenced to 38 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating U.S. export controls, the Justice Department said Nov. 17. Wei Sun, who was charged in January (see 2002050025), violated the Arms Export Control Act when he took a company laptop with sensitive military technology data to China. His computer contained data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, including technical information on a missile guidance system. Raytheon didn’t comment.
Danish state prosecutors charged a Danish holding company, its subsidiary and its director for violating sanctions against Syria, a Nov. 12 EU Sanctions blog post said. The company, which Denmark does not name, allegedly sold 172,000 metric tons of jet fuel to Russian companies, which delivered the fuel to Syria, a government news release said, according to an unofficial translation. The sales violated European Union sanctions and involved about 647 million Danish kroner, the equivalent of about $100 million.
A Taiwan resident and two companies were charged with participating in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws and sanctions against Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 10. Chin Hua Huang was a sales agent for Taiwan business DES International Co. and Brunei company Soltech Industry Co., and all three conspired to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, Justice said. They were also sanctioned by the Treasury Department earlier this week (see 2011100025).
FedEx is appealing a U.S. court’s September decision to dismiss the company’s 2019 lawsuit against the Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2009110038), according to court records filed Nov. 5. The shipping company told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that BIS was acting outside the authority of the Export Administration Regulations by applying overly burdensome liability standards on carriers (see 1906250030). But BIS said FedEx’s allegations were politically driven (see 1909110073) and the court said FedEx failed to prove the allegations (see 2009110038). In September, FedEx said it was “disappointed” by the court’s ruling and was considering an appeal (see 2009140003).
The U.S. seized 27 domain names registered to the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Justice Department said Nov. 4. The domain names were being used to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran and the IRGC, including by acting as if they were “genuine news outlets” to target U.S. audiences and influence U.S. public opinion, the Justice Department said. The IRGC’s operation of the domains violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations, which block U.S. people from providing services to the Iranian government without a license. The move follows previous U.S. seizures of domain names operated by the IRGC (see 2010080026).