Alabama resident and business owner Ray Hunt pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin goods to Iran, DOJ announced. Hunt was charged in December after the agency said Hunt conspired to ship parts used in the oil and gas industry to Iran and submitted false export information to the U.S. government (see 2211300011). Hunt faces a maximum five-year prison sentence.

An administrative law judge on July 18 upheld a March determination by the Federal Maritime Commission that the ocean transportation intermediary (OTI) license of Miami freight forwarder Netcycle Trading should be revoked and that the company should stop its OTI activities.

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision upending the Chevron principle of deferring to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes requires a more demanding review of the Office of Foreign Assets Control's use of the Global Magnitsky Act and International Emergency Economic Powers Act, sanctioned Mir Rahman Rahmani and his son, Hafi Ajmal Rahmani, argued (Mir Rahman Rahmani v. Janet Yellen, D.D.C. # 24-00285).

Maxim Marchenko, a Russian national living in Hong Kong, was sentenced on July 17 to three years in prison for his role in shipping dual-use, military grade organic light-emitting diode (OLED) micro-displays for Russian end users (see 2309190063), DOJ announced. He will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

A dual U.S.-Ghana citizen made his initial appearance in a New York court July 16, a day after being extradited from the U.K. for his role in a scheme to bribe Ghanaian officials, DOJ announced. Asante Kwaku Berko is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one count of violating the FCPA and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.

The Bureau of Industry and Security recently suspended the export privileges of four people, including two for violating U.S. restrictions against Russia and two others for illegal ammunition exports.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on July 9 denied a U.S. defense manufacturer's motion to dismiss allegations that it criminally smuggled weapons by selling drawings of a rare earth permanent magnet used in F/A-18 Super Hornets to China (U.S. v. Quadrant Magnetics, LLC, W.D. Ky. # 3:22-CR-88-DJH).

A Dutch construction equipment supplier will pay nearly $2 million after the Netherlands accused it of violating sanctions against Russia, the country’s public prosecutor office said last week. The Dieseko Group reached the settlement after the Netherlands said it sold pile drivers and related parts in 2015 and 2016 for the construction of the Crimean Bridge, which linked Russia and Crimea.

The U.K. is investigating David Crisp, the manager of a luxury perfume brand, for allegedly exporting perfume to Russia in violation of U.K. sanctions, according to a civil judgment released this month by the U.K. High Court of Justice.

Nikolay Goltsev of Montreal and Brooklyn, New York, resident Salimdzhon Nasriddinov pleaded guilty July 9 to conspiracy to commit export control violations. The two men shipped electronic components to sanctioned Russian companies, some of which were then found in "seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine," according to DOJ.