BIS Fines Portland Forwarder for Illegal Exports to UAE, China
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Portland-based forwarding company $20,000 after the company illegally exported rifle scopes to the United Arab Emirates and China. The company, USGoBuy, LLC, exported more than $1,200 worth of scopes controlled for crime control reasons without their required licenses, BIS said in a June 17 order. Along with the penalties, USGoBuy also agreed to conduct an external audit of its export compliance program.
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BIS said the company exported four rifle scopes to an address in the UAE in March 2015 on behalf of a customer in Iran. About a month later, BIS agents visited USGoBuy to “discuss export compliance,” and the company soon after sent an email to its customers saying that it was preparing to “close service” to several countries, including Iran, Cuba, Syria, Sudan, Myanmar and North Korea. But the next day, BIS said, the company illegally exported another rifle scope to China on behalf of an Iranian customer.
BIS said it will waive $15,000 of the company's $20,000 fine if USGoBuy complies with a three-year probationary period. During the period, the company must hire an “unaffiliated third-party consultant” to conduct a one-year audit of its export compliance program, BIS said, and must submit that audit report to BIS’s Portland field office. If USGoBuy doesn’t pay the fine or comply with the terms of its probation, BIS said it may deny its export privileges for three years.