US Fines Singapore Company, Charges Employee for Export Violations
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Singapore-based electronics and software distributor more than $3 million and suspended its export privileges for violating the Export Administration Regulations, which included illegal exports to China and Iran, according to a Jan. 29 order. BIS said Avnet Asia Pte., Ltd. committed 53 EAR violations over several years when it sold export-controlled electronic components totaling more than $1 million. The Justice Department also charged Chinese national Cheng Bo, a former Avnet Asia employee, for participating in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws.
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BIS said Avnet Asia ordered, sold, forwarded and transferred a range of export-controlled items, including goods subject to the Iranian Transaction Regulations and the EAR and controlled for national security and anti-terrorism reasons. Some of the goods were destined for Iranian end-users, while others were reexported to China via Hong Kong.
On one occasion, Cheng, who worked as a sales account manager, falsely told a U.S. manufacturer that he planned to buy the manufacturer’s export-controlled power amplifiers for a customer in Hong Kong when they were actually destined for mainland China, the Justice Department said. Cheng made similar claims on 18 separate shipments worth about $814,000, repeatedly ordering export-controlled goods for Hong Kong while knowing they would be shipped to China.
Avnet Asia said another sales manager based in Singapore helped two Singapore business organizations illegally ship U.S. goods to Iran and China by creating false documents that said the goods were destined for Singapore. The company never applied for an export license for the goods, which included 29 shipments worth about $347,000.
BIS said $1.721 million worth of Avnet Asia’s $3.229 million penalty must be paid within 30 days of the order. The agency will waive the remaining $1.508 million if Avnet Asia does not commit another export violation over the next two years and complies with the terms of its settlement agreement with BIS. The company will also be barred from exporting or buying U.S. goods subject to the EAR for two years. If convicted, Cheng faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to twice the value of the goods involved in the illegal transactions, the Justice Department said. The penalty sends “a strong message that export compliance matters,” said Kevin Kurland, BIS's acting assistant secretary for export enforcement.