The U.S. on Sept. 3 unsealed charges of terrorism, murder conspiracy and sanctions evasion against six Hamas leaders for their role in planning the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, DOJ announced. The six people -- Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad al-Masri, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka -- and their co-conspirators allegedly "control all aspects of the terrorist organization, including its political and military branches," DOJ said.
The U.S. on Sept. 2 seized a "Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft," which is owned and operated to benefit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and those associated with him, DOJ announced. The plane was seized in the Dominican Republic and sent to Florida related to alleged export control and sanctions violations.
California man Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi was sentenced on Aug. 29 to three months in prison for illegally importing an "ancient floor mosaic from Syria depicting the Roman demigod Hercules," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. Alcharihi was found guilty in June 2023 after a five-day trial of one count of entry of falsely classified imports.
Mississippi seafoods wholesaler Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc. and two of its managers pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 to conspiring to mislabel frozen imported goods as their more expensive and premium local counterparts, DOJ announced. The company agreed to pay $1 million in forfeitures and a $150,000 criminal fine, while sales manager Todd Rosetti and business manager James Gunkel copped to "misbranding seafood to facilitate" the company's fraud, DOJ said.
Hungarian national Bence Horvath was charged with violating U.S. export controls on Russia by conspiring to ship radio communications technology to Russian government end users without a license, DOJ announced Aug. 26. Horvath is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
Latvia citizen Oleg Chistyakov appeared in a U.S. court Aug. 21 after being extradited from Latvia to face charges that he violated U.S. export controls by shipping "sophisticated avionics equipment" to Russian companies, DOJ announced.
Javier Aguilar of Houston, former trader at energy trading firm Vitol, pleaded guilty Aug. 21 to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and taking part in interstate and foreign commerce to distribute bribery proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. Aguilar paid bribes to officials at the procurement wing of PEMEX, a Mexican state-owned oil company.
Venezuela citizen George Semerene Quintero pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned oil company where he worked, DOJ announced.
U.S.-Iranian national Jeffrey Nader was charged Aug. 14 with conspiring to illegally export U.S.-made aircraft parts, including components used in military aircraft, to Iran, DOJ announced.
U.S. Army intelligence analyst Korbein Schultz pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to conspiring to "obtain and disclose national defense information," illicitly exporting data related to defense articles to China, and conspiring to illegally export defense articles and bribery, DOJ announced. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each export-related charge.