Victor Yao Apeletey of Ghana, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to conspiring to export stolen motor vehicles, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York announced. During the first two months of 2020, Apeletey conspired with others to purchase the vehicles using stolen identities, then having them driven to Canada under the false premise of eventually being shipped to Ghana. The defendant purchased two vehicles, a 2020 Ford F-450 Super Duty and a 2019 Mercedes AMG GLE 63, using the stolen identities. The conspiracy charge brings a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the release said.

Humberto Baez, a Pennsylvania-based produce importer, was sentenced to 13 years in prison Aug. 12 for conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said. Baez conspired with others to bring in the cocaine in shipping containers from the Dominican Republic between August 2016 and March 2018. Baez first conducted two “dry run” shipments via an importing company which contained only produce to appear as a real business. A third shipment brought into Miami in February 2018 contained around 16 kilograms of cocaine in the flaps of cardboard boxes that also housed chili peppers, the attorney's office said. The shipment was being shipped to Baez's warehouse in Pennsylvania when the container was searched and seized by law enforcement in March 2018.

Four individuals were arrested Aug. 11 for their roles in a scheme to traffic counterfeit goods with a retail value of over $130 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. The group is charged with importing generic goods from China, applying brand labels to the goods, then selling the counterfeit-branded goods to retail and wholesale purchasers, in clear violation of anti-trafficking provisions, the attorney's office said. The counterfeit goods included fake UGG boots, Nike Air Jordan shoes, Timberland boots and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Another three defendants in the 14-count indictment remain at large.

The State Department announced penalties on eight foreign entities and their subsidies for illegal transfers under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, an Aug. 9 notice said. The agency said the entities transferred items subject to multilateral control lists that contribute to weapons proliferation or missile production. The State Department barred them from purchasing items controlled on the U.S. Munitions List and by the Arms Export Control Act and will suspend any current export licenses used by the entities. The agency will also bar them from receiving new export licenses for any goods subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The restrictions will remain in place for two years from the July 29 effective date.

Dali Bagrou and his company World Mining and Oil Supply pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to violating the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release. The scheme started when a Russian state-owned enterprise began working with Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin, general director of Russia-based energy company KS Engineering, to buy a power turbine from a U.S.-based manufacturer for around $17.3 million, the release said.

Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, an Iranian national living in Montreal, was indicted by a grand jury July 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for illegally exporting laboratory equipment from the U.S. to Iran, the Department of Justice said. Kafrani co-owned Prolife Global, based in Canada, where he sought to purchase spectrometry equipment to ultimately ship to Iran, DOJ alleged. After failing to get one U.S. company to ship the equipment to Montreal, Kafrani found a second American company that sent the merchandise to Canada, DOJ said. Kafrani then sent the equipment to the United Arab Emirates, then reexported it to Iran, it said.

A federal court ordered an oil tanker to be forfeited to the U.S. after it helped illegally ship oil to North Korea in violation of U.S. and United Nations sanctions, the Justice Department said July 30. The agency also said sanctions evasion charges are pending against Kwek Kee Sen, a Singaporean national and the owner of the ship, who remains at large.

Ahmad Sami, Caesar Sami and Rania Alkanj, all of Corona, California, pleaded guilty July 28 to failing to assist customs officers, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York said. The trio drove or attempted to drive multiple vehicles into the U.S. without declaring that the vehicles were intended to be sold there. The three owe the U.S. $20,681.09, $15,735.99 and $965.71, respectively. Each defendant attempted to drive several cars across different points of entry in the U.S., including the Blue Water Bridge Port of Entry in Port Huron, Michigan, and the Lewiston Bridge Point of Entry in New York.

Stargate Apparel, Rivstar Apparel and their former owner and CEO, Joseph Bailey, settled a False Claims Act case with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York over the companies' use of inaccurate invoices to underreport their clothing imports, the Department of Justice said July 28. Under the settlement, Bailey and the New York-headquartered companies admitted to engaging in the fraudulent schemes. Bailey will pay $3.2 million while the employee stock ownership plan that owns the two companies will pay a combined $2.8 million, DOJ said. Bailey and the companies led two “double invoicing” schemes 2004-2015, according to the complaint.

Iranian nationals Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori were indicted July 13 in New York federal court for attempting to commit kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud, and money laundering, the Department of Justice said. The four allegedly conspired to kidnap a Brooklyn, New York, journalist for “mobilizing public opinion in Iran and around the world to bring changes to the regime's laws and practices,” DOJ said. Farahani, an Iranian intelligence officer, along with the other three, all Iranian intelligence assets, allegedly plotted to lure the journalist to a third country and kidnap the victim. Niloufar Bahadorifar, an Iranian living in California, allegedly provided financial and other services to support the plot, and faces additional charges. All are charged with a conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.