The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security denied a man export privileges after he was convicted of illegally exporting a “barrel and breech casing” for a Glock carbine pistol to Latvia, Commerce said Aug. 5. Michael Shapovalov, who was sentenced to 34 months in prison after his May 2018 conviction for violating the Arms Export Control Act, is banned from exporting from the U.S. until May 23, 2025.
Four Chinese nationals and a Chinese company were charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and U.S. sanctions after they did business with sanctioned North Korean companies, the Justice Department said in a July 23 press release. The charges were brought against Ma Xiaohong, her company Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. Ltd. (DHID) and three of the company’s top executives: general manager Zhou Jianshu (Zhou), deputy general manager Hong Jinhua (Hong) and financial manager Luo Chuanxu (Luo).
An Iranian citizen pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iran sanctions after she tried to illegally export gas turbine parts from the U.S. to Iran, the Department of Justice said in a July 19 press release. Mahin Mojtahedzadeh faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence and $1 million fine when sentenced in November.
The Department of Justice announced charges against three Iranian citizens for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after they exported carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, according to a July 16 press release. One of the Iranian citizens, Behzad Pourghannad, was extradited to the U.S. from Germany on July 15. The other two -- Ali Reza Shokri and Farzin Faridmanesh -- have not yet been arrested, the DOJ said.
Commerce denied export privileges for two Iranian nationals and their company after they tried to export a $15,000 micro drill press from the U.S. to Iran, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a July 8 denied export order. Commerce also fined them $300,000 for trying to violate the Export Administration Regulations and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.
A Florida resident was arrested for export violations after he illegally shipped hundreds of assault rifle parts to an Argentine weapons trafficking organization, the Justice Department said in a July 12 press release. Cristian German Barrera, who was charged with conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, did not have the proper license to export AR-15 assault rifle parts to Argentina, the Justice Department said. U.S. Homeland Security Investigations officials worked with Argentine law enforcement to seize the weapons parts, which included long arms, handguns, a mortar round and more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition, the press release said.
A recent Supreme Court case on courts' deference to federal agencies will likely result in tougher legal scrutiny of trade policies made by the Commerce Department, CBP and other agencies that affect trade, said Devin Sikes, a lawyer at Akin Gump. Sikes wrote that the U.S. Court of International Trade and federal appeals courts will be doing deeper reviews of federal agencies' trade regulations that could have ambiguity. "Federal agencies operating in the international trade arena likewise will need to more fully explain their reasons for interpreting a regulation in a particular way," Sikes wrote. "These agencies may no longer assert ambiguity based on the regulation’s terms and expect deference from the courts. Expect an increase in the number of challenges filed contesting an agency’s interpretation of its own regulations."
A Los Angeles resident was found guilty of conspiring to illegally export semiconductor chips to China, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Department of Justice said in a July 2 press release. Yi-Chi Shih faces a maximum prison sentence of 219 years.
John Peterson and Brunella Zuppone were arrested June 26 and charged with "conspiracy to violate and attempted violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a June 28 news release. The pair are alleged to have tried to "illegally export to Argentina defense articles, specifically, parts and components for AR-15 assault rifles, which were smuggled across international borders by a transnational weapons trafficking group in Argentina," the Justice Department said. Neither had required licenses from the State Department for exporting such goods, it said.
Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security banned export privileges for a man who was convicted of illegally exporting gas turbine parts in 2018, Commerce said in a June 28 order. Commerce said the man, Olaf Tepper, violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he exported parts to Germany that were intended for an end-user in Iran. Tepper did not have the proper export license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Tepper was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine in addition to the export ban, which included revoking all of Tepper’s BIS-related licenses. The ban will last 10 years after his conviction date of Aug. 3, 2018, Commerce said.