DOJ charged an Ohio-based subsidiary of a Russian aircraft parts supplier and three of its current and former employees with illegally exporting aircraft parts from the U.S. to Russia and Russian airline companies, DOJ announced.
The U.S. defended its designation of Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology as a "Chinese military company" in a Feb. 12 brief at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, responding to a host of arguments from Hesai claiming that the designation wasn't backed by substantial evidence and committed various legal errors (Hesai Technology Co. v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
Authorities in the Dominican Republic seized an aircraft used by sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) at the request of the U.S. government due to alleged sanctions and export control violations, DOJ announced.
An indictment was unsealed Feb. 4 charging Wisconsin resident Mark Buschman with selling firearms and related parts to buyers in Saudi Arabia without a license, exporting the items and "lying to federal prosecutors about it," DOJ announced. Buschman allegedly ran an "illegal export conspiracy" for more than five years, February 2019 to December 2024, and now faces a maximum of 42 years in prison and up to $1.5 million in fines.
Sergei Zharnovnikov, a Kyrgyzstan national, was charged this week with illegal smuggling and conspiring to illegally export firearms from the U.S. to Russia. Zharnovnikov, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, traveled to the U.S. last month for the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, where he was arrested.
The Pentagon's response to Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology's claims against its designation as a Chinese military company shows that the department "has no evidence" and "made no finding" that the company is "in any way connected to the Chinese military," Hesai said in a brief at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Hesai Technology Co. v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17 unanimously upheld a law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban on the popular social media application in the U.S.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network adjusted its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice this week. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for various record-keeping and banking violations associated with certain financial transactions along with the agency's new beneficial ownership information reporting requirements. Those BOI requirements are currently under a nationwide injunction by a federal court (see 2501030018). The new penalty amounts take effect Jan. 17.
The Pentagon defended its decision to designate Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology as a Chinese military company, filing a cross-motion for judgment in Hesai's case against its designation at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (see 2412110023). DOD said substantial evidence backs its finding that Hesai is a "military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base," arguing that Hesai failed to appreciate that the "combined weight" of all the evidence supports the designation (Hesai Technology Co. v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-01381).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice this week. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for violations of the Trading With the Enemy Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Clean Diamond Trade Act. The agency also updated two references to “one-half the IEEPA maximum" penalty, which changed from $184,068 to $188,850. OFAC also adjusted the record-keeping penalty amounts in the agency's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines. The changes take effect Jan. 15.