An Estonian national was extradited to the U.S. on Aug. 28 to face charges of conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls by sourcing U.S.-made electronics for use by the Russian government and military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. Andrey Shevlyakov faces 18 total counts related to the international procurement scheme.
DOJ launched a cross-agency "Trade Fraud Task Force" on Aug. 29 to "bring robust enforcement against importers and other parties who seek to defraud the United States," the agency announced. The task force will bring together attorneys from the agency's civil and criminal divisions, along with officials at CBP, to target tariff evasion and "smugglers who seek to import prohibited goods into the American economy."
A New York man was sentenced Aug. 27 to six months in prison for "smuggling Egyptian antiquities" into the U.S., the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. The defendant, Ashraf Omar Eldarir, pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of smuggling goods through John F. Kennedy International Airport.
A U.S. business owner allegedly exported gun parts and accessories to Russia illegally by routing them through Kazakhstan and mislabeling the shipments to evade authorities, DOJ said last week. Maxim Larin, a Florida resident who owns multiple U.S.-based firearms supply companies, illegally worked with a person in Russia to evade export restrictions and ship items controlled under both the Export Administration Regulations and International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said.
Jinchao Wei, a former sailor with the U.S. Navy, was found guilty this week after being accused of illegally exporting military information and technical data to China. Wei was convicted on several counts, including espionage and illegally exporting technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
Chinese national Shenghua Wen was sentenced this week to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in June to illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and "other military items" to North Korea by hiding them inside shipping containers leaving a California port (see 2506100049). DOJ said Wen, who was residing illegally in Ontario, California, committed the crime "at the direction of North Korean government officials," who sent him about $2 million for the illegal exports.
Importer Allied Stone agreed to pay $12.4 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by evading antidumping duties and countervailing duties on quartz surface products from China, DOJ announced. The FCA case was initially filed by Melinda Hemphill, a whistleblower in the case, who will receive a $2,170,875 cut of the settlement.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $75,547, for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, commit bank fraud and defraud the U.S. (see 2411010047).
ServisMed, a Florida-based distributor of disinfectant pesticides, was ordered to dissolve its business after trying to export unregistered pesticide products in violation of federal insecticide regulations, DOJ said. The company, which was investigated in part by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Export Enforcement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier and U.S. citizen Bazile Richardson have been charged with violations of U.S. sanctions on Haiti, DOJ announced. Cherizier and Richardson were charged with "leading a conspiracy to transfer funds" from the U.S. to Cherizier to "fund his gang activities in Haiti in violation" of U.S. sanctions, DOJ said.