The U.S. this week arrested a dual U.S.-Iranian national living in Massachusetts and an Iranian national, charging both with conspiring to ship "sophisticated electronic components" from the U.S. to Iran in violation of U.S. export controls and sanctions.
An indictment was unsealed last week charging Russian national Alexey Komov with conspiracy and U.S. sanctions violations stemming from his aid to sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Komov allegedly conspired with Malofeyev to recruit an American citizen, Jack Hanick, to start and operate a television network in Russia.
The U.S. last week indicted 14 North Korean nationals working as part of a “long-running” conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions. DOJ said they used fake or borrowed identities of Americans and others to pose as remote information technology employees for U.S. companies and generate revenue for the North Korean government.
Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology on Dec. 9 filed a rebuke of its designation as a Chinese military company, urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reverse the decision due to a host of alleged evidentiary and procedural errors. Hesai said the Pentagon, which recently relisted the company, "still cannot find a single connection to the Chinese military or defense industrial base" (Hesai Technology Co. v. U.S., D.D.C. # 24-01381).
The Western regional manager of a New York-based freight forwarding company was arrested Dec. 10 for her alleged involvement in a scheme to violate U.S. export controls and sanctions on Russia, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. The manager, Natalya Mazulina, faces 12 counts of various export-related crimes.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed temporary denial orders for two Russian airlines that it said continue to illegally operate aircraft on flights into and out of Russia. The agency renewed denial orders for Siberian Airlines and Nordwind Airlines for one year from Dec. 6, saying they continue to "act in blatant disregard for U.S. export controls and the terms of previously issued TDOs," including by operating flights between Russia and Thailand, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BIS last renewed the orders in December 2023 (see 2312130011).
A Chinese national was charged for his role in a scheme to illegally ship export-controlled "defense-related technical data" to China and illegally supply the Department of Defense with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ announced.
A federal court in Texas on Dec. 3 preliminarily enjoined the government from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act's (CTA) beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, finding that the law violates various elements of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Amons Mazzant found that the CTA "intrudes upon States' rights under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments," compels speech and harms the right of association under the First Amendment and violates the Fourth Amendment by "compelling disclosure of private information."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Dec. 6 upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which bans the social media application TikTok in the U.S. or forces its parent company, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, to divest its ownership share in the application in the U.S. Judges Douglas Ginsburg, Sri Srinivasan and Neomi Rao said the ban survived constitutional scrutiny (TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Ltd. v. Merrick Garland, D.D.C. # 24-1113).
A Chinese national was arrested on Dec. 3 for allegedly conspiring to export firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. Shenghua Wen, an illegal resident of California, was charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.