The Federal Maritime Commission is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released this week. The changes, effective Jan. 15, increase maximum penalties for various violations of U.S. shipping regulations, including failing to establish "financial responsibility for nonperformance of transportation," illegal foreign shipping practices that have an “adverse impact” on U.S. carriers, “knowing and willful” violations of the Shipping Act, and operating in foreign commerce after a tariff suspension.

Three siblings recently pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle ammunition from the U.S. to Mexico, DOJ announced last week. The agency said Rolando, Ashley and Yamileth Herrera worked together to buy thousands of rounds of ammunition from a sporting goods store before trying to ship the ammo to people in Mexico. All three are U.S. citizens with residences in Mexico.

The State Department is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released Jan. 4. The new amounts, which include revised maximum penalties for violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Arms Export Control Act, will apply only to penalties assessed on or after Jan. 5, the agency said.

The Commerce Department’s export enforcement actions in 2023 resulted in the “highest number ever” of convictions, temporary denial orders and post-conviction denial orders, the Bureau of Industry and Security wrote in a year-end review. It also said it worked with foreign governments to complete over 1,500 end-use checks, “our most ever in a single year,” and added more than 465 parties from China, Iran, Russia and elsewhere to the Entity List.

DOJ will not seek a second trial against embattled former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried related to charges he conspired to bribe foreign officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In a Dec. 29 letter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said proceeding with the sentencing, and avoiding a delay that a second trial would cause, "would advance the public's interest in a timely and just resolution of the case" (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).

New Hampshire-headquartered NuDay was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine after it filed false export information, DOJ said Dec. 28. The agency said the five-year probation sentence for NuDay, founded as a nonprofit charity, was the “maximum penalty for an organizational defendant.”

A Georgia businessman, a former Honduran government official and a former Florida resident were charged with allegedly participating in a scheme to pay and hide bribes to Honduran government officials to "secure contracts to provide uniforms and other goods" to the Honduran National Police, DOJ said.

Robert Alcantara of Providence, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 68 months in prison for illegally exporting over 100 "ghost guns" to the Dominican Republic, according to DOJ.

The Commerce Department on Jan. 15 will adjust its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released this week. The changes will increase penalties for certain export control and export filing violations, including by increasing the maximum fine for a violation of the Export Control Reform Act, from $353,534 to $364,992.

A U.S. appeals court this month upheld the conviction and 57-month prison sentence of Florida business owner Peter Sotis for conspiring to and illegally attempting to ship export-controlled rebreather diving equipment to Libya.