Serina Baker-Hill, director of CBP's Automotive and Aerospace Center of Excellence and Expertise in Detroit, has been charged in an indictment unsealed on March 12 with defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency, making false statements to federal agents and committing wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced.
A North Carolina business owner pleaded guilty last week after trying to export accelerometer technology with military uses to China without a Bureau of Industry and Security license, DOJ said. David Bohmerwald, owner of the electronics resale business Components Cooper Inc., faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison
Ray Hunt, an Alabama resident and business owner, was sentenced this week to five years in prison after pleading guilty in July to conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin goods to Iran, DOJ announced. The agency said Hunt conspired to ship parts used in the oil and gas industry to Iran and submitted false export information to the U.S. government (see 2211300011). He worked around U.S. restrictions by using third-party transshipment companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, routing payments through UAE banks, and lying to shipping companies about how much the exports were worth to stop them from filing export information in the Automated Export System.
Gal Haimovich, an Israeli national and owner of a freight forwarding company, was sentenced last week to two years in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in September as part of a scheme to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from U.S. manufacturers and suppliers to Russia (see 2409110018). DOJ said Haimovich -- who admitted to deceiving U.S. companies about the destination of the goods, some of which were sent to a sanctioned Russian airline Siberian Airlines (see 2412090012 -- also forfeited $2,024,435.44 to the U.S. government.
DOJ charged an Ohio-based subsidiary of a Russian aircraft parts supplier and three of its current and former employees with illegally exporting aircraft parts from the U.S. to Russia and Russian airline companies, DOJ announced.
A California customs broker pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to defrauding importers out of more than $5 million and committing over $1 million in tax evasion, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. The broker, Frank Seung Noah, copped to two counts of wire fraud, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison each, and one count of tax evasion, for which he faces five years in prison.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic seized an aircraft used by sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) at the request of the U.S. government due to alleged sanctions and export control violations, DOJ announced.
An indictment was unsealed Feb. 4 charging Wisconsin resident Mark Buschman with selling firearms and related parts to buyers in Saudi Arabia without a license, exporting the items and "lying to federal prosecutors about it," DOJ announced. Buschman allegedly ran an "illegal export conspiracy" for more than five years, February 2019 to December 2024, and now faces a maximum of 42 years in prison and up to $1.5 million in fines.
Sergei Zharnovnikov, a Kyrgyzstan national, was charged this week with illegal smuggling and conspiring to illegally export firearms from the U.S. to Russia. Zharnovnikov, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, traveled to the U.S. last month for the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, where he was arrested.
A resident of both India and New Jersey who operated jewelry companies in New York City was sentenced Jan. 23 to 30 months in prison for leading a scheme to evade customs duties on over $13.5 million of jewelry imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and operating and aiding the operation of an "unlicensed money transmitting business."