The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Portland-based forwarding company $20,000 after the company illegally exported rifle scopes to the United Arab Emirates and China. The company, USGoBuy, LLC, exported more than $1,200 worth of scopes controlled for crime control reasons without their required licenses, BIS said in a June 17 order. Along with the penalties, USGoBuy also agreed to conduct an external audit of its export compliance program.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a June 13 opinion rejected Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska's challenge to his sanctions listing, granting the Office of Foreign Assets Control's motion for summary judgment. Deripaska, who argued his listing as part of the wave of sanctions in the wake of Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 violated multiple procedural and constitutional rights. Deripaska claimed that OFAC violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights by “relying on undisclosed classified information and failing to provide him with adequately detailed unclassified summaries of that information.” Deripaska is a “non-resident alien who lacks sufficient contact with the United States” to bring a due process challenge, Judge Amit Mehta said. Mehta said that “even if the court were to consider Deripaska’s due process claim on the merits, it would reject it” because the International Emergency Economic Powers Act explicitly says that OFAC can rely on classified information in its determinations.

Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez, a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen and daughter of the leader of Mexican drug trafficking group Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, the Department of Justice said in a June 11 news release. Oseguera Gonzalez “engaged in financial dealings” with six Mexican companies that had been designated by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. She owned two OFAC-designated companies, J&P Advertising and JJGON S.P.R., and was a high-ranking officer at four other listed businesses. Oseguera Gonzalez's father, CJNG leader Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, and her uncle, Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, the leader of the Los Cuinis cartel, also were sanctioned by OFAC.

Peruvian citizen Hilario Renato Mendoza Beltran was sentenced to 87 months in prison for conspiring to distribute over 5 kilograms of cocaine and launder money for an international cocaine trafficking group. Beltran pleaded guilty to working as a Peru-based operative of the organization by transporting over $472,000 of the group's money and arranging the delivery of around 140 kilograms of cocaine to other operatives in Peru, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York said in a June 4 news release. The delivered drugs were shipped to Guatemala and Mexico and then smuggled into the U.S. According to the release, between 2014 and 2016, the Montreal-based operation collected the proceeds in Montreal from selling marijuana and cocaine in the U.S. and Canada, then used that money to purchase cocaine from various suppliers. The cocaine was then smuggled back to Canada and the U.S.

The State Department announced debarments against seven people convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act. The debarments, which will be imposed starting June 4, target Ronald Adjei Danso, Julian Alonso Higuera, Qingshan Li (see 2006150026), Si Mong Park (see 2009220055), Maritza Rubio, Wei Sun (see 2011180019) and Randy Lew Williams. All seven are “generally ineligible” to participate in activity controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations for three years following their dates of convictions. At the end of that period, they must apply to be reinstated from their debarment before engaging in ITAR activities.

The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for a North Carolina man after he illegally exported firearms and ammunition to Honduras, BIS said in a May 27 order. Chris Rodriguez was convicted Oct. 18, 2019, for violating the Arms Export Control Act when he tried to ship 27 firearms and “hundreds” of rounds of ammunition without the required State Department licenses. Rodriguez was sentenced to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $100 fine. BIS also revoked his export privileges for seven years from the date of his conviction, and revoked any BIS-issued licenses in which he had an interest at the time of his conviction.

The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Dubai company $25,000 for violating the Export Administration Regulations when it exported “powder grade nickel” to the United Arab Emirates, according to a May 28 order. The company, Alsima Middle East General Trading, submitted false and misleading statements to BIS in its license application for the export, the agency said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a U.S. laser manufacturer $350,000 for illegally exporting laser systems to China, according to a May 28 order. The company, New York-based Photonics Industries International, exported more than 20 “RGH-1064-30 picosecond laser systems” to China in 2014 and failed to apply for the required licenses, which violated the Export Administration Regulations.

In complying with a May 25 U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia order to remove the “Communist Chinese military company” designation from Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a FAQ May 27 saying that the prohibitions under the designation “do not apply with respect to Xiaomi.” The Defense Department and Xiaomi jointly moved to drop the label after District Judge Rudolph Contreras said it violated the Administrative Procedure Act and was made on insufficient evidence (see 2105120047). To date, two other companies so labeled have challenged the designation in the D.C. district court, and one, Luokung Technologies, has been granted a preliminary injunction.

Tina Chen, a resident of Las Vegas and owner of electronics and computer components exporter Top One Zone, was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to export goods from the U.S. to Iran, the Department of Justice said in a May 28 news release. Chen allegedly worked with others to purchase and ship goods from U.S. companies through entities in Hong Kong to individuals in Iran without a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Chen hid the identities of the end-users, DOJ alleged. She is charged with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations -- a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.