A Texas-based industrial equipment supplier and its former CEO were fined millions of dollars for intentionally violating sanctions and export control laws, but the U.S. declined to prosecute its parent company after the firm voluntarily disclosed the violations and cooperated closely with DOJ’s investigation.
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A grand jury indictment unsealed last week charges two people with trying to pay millions of dollars to ship U.S. export controlled technology and weapons to China, offering in some cases more than double the market rate to buy military jet engines, drones, cryptographic devices and other sensitive technologies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week removed a former Lebanon-based small business owner from its Specially Designated Nationals List after he sued the Treasury Department over his designation in December, arguing that OFAC unfairly delayed a decision on his delisting request.
DOJ is revising its corporate enforcement policy to encourage more voluntary disclosures, including by outlining a clearer path for self-reporting companies to avoid criminal prosecutions, the agency said. It’s also adding trade and sanctions to the list of “priority areas” for its whistleblower awards program.
The U.S. this week said it won’t be prosecuting a NASA contractor for export control violations because the organization quickly self-reported the breaches and demonstrated “exceptional and proactive” cooperation with DOJ’s National Security Division. The announcement came after one of the contractor’s employees pleaded guilty to illegally exporting flight control software to a Chinese company on the Entity List and embezzling at least $161,000 in software license sales from those exports.
A British court last week sentenced two Russians, including one former senior trade official, to prison for violating U.K. sanctions against Russia. The case marks the first conviction in the U.K. for a breach of sanctions under its Russia Sanctions Regulations, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
The U.S. this month arrested and charged a Pakistani-Canadian national with conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls after DOJ said he illegally shipped millions of dollars worth of controlled items to entities in Pakistan, including ones on the Entity List, all while hiding the true end-users from U.S. exporters.
The Treasury Department recently published more guidance on its outbound investment prohibition and notification rules (see 2412160044), including a new FAQ on how certain portions of the rules apply to in-house lawyers.
ASML, the major Dutch semiconductor tooling firm, is being accused of misleading investors about how its projected China sales and revenues were impacted by recently imposed export controls.
U.S. persons may be able to host sanctioned people as speakers at overseas conferences without a specific authorization, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said, marking an apparent reversal of the agency’s previous sanctions policy for speaking engagements.