The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York this month denied a request from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. to help the company obtain access to certain discovery documents that are restricted by the Bureau of Industry and Security. Judge Cheryl Pollak said that while DOJ marked hundreds of thousands of documents at a lower level of classification than BIS, which would give Huawei greater access to the records, the documents are "still subject to further review by BIS" (United States v. Huawei Technologies, E.D.N.Y. # 18-00457).
U.S.-based business owner Ilya Kahn pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act after he illegally shipped sensitive technology, including semiconductors, from the U.S. to Russia (see 2401180047), DOJ said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed a temporary denial order on Russia's Rossiya Airlines, saying the company has continued to illegally operate planes in violation of U.S. export controls, including on flights between Russia and China and Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The agency renewed the denial order for one year from Nov. 5. BIS first suspended the export privileges of the airline in May 2022 (see 2205200008) and has renewed the order multiple times. The order blocks Rossiya from participating in transactions subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
Turkish national Taskin Torlak was arrested Nov. 2 for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions by scheming to ship oil from Venezuela to benefit the country's state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, DOJ announced.
A Virginia-based freight consolidation and forwarding business and two of its executives were charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act after they allegedly exported goods and technology to Russia by transshipping them through Turkey, Finland and Kazakhstan, DOJ announced Nov. 4.
Oil trader Gary Oztemel will pay $301,575 to settle charges that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for paying over $1 million in bribes to Brazilian officials to secure contracts for two U.S. energy corporations. Oztemel pleaded guilty in June to money laundering, leading to the final plea settlement.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko pleaded guilty Nov. 1 for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme, DOJ said. Yermolenko pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Yermolenko faces up to 30 years in prison.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected an argument from a Chinese engineering professor who said his illegal export shouldn't have been subject to national security controls, which made the export subject to a higher base offense (U.S. v. Yi-Chi Shih, 9th Cir. # 23-3718).
Brian Assi, a Middle East-based salesman of a heavy machinery manufacturer, was convicted last week of violating sanctions against Iran after he tried to export U.S.-made drills to Iran without licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Florida resident Yuksel Senbol was sentenced on Oct. 24 to 15 months in prison for violating the Export Control Reform Act and Arms Export Control Act, among other things, DOJ announced. Senbol, who pleaded guilty in May (see 2405080060), "knowingly facilitated the illegal export" of export-controlled drawings of key U.S. military technology and helped her co-conspirators fraudulently procure contracts to supply the Defense Department with "critical military components," DOJ said. She also agreed to forfeit $275,430.90.