John Unsalan, president of U.S. building materials supplier Metalhouse, pleaded guilty last week in connection with violations of Russia-related sanctions. Unsalan allegedly breached sanctions against Russian oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two of his companies by providing them with over $150 million for steel-making materials (see 2304180033). DOJ said Unsalan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering to “promote violations” of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, and agreed to forfeit about $160 million in proceeds he obtained from the conspiracy. The U.S. dismissed the remaining counts of the indictment against Unsalan as part of a plea deal.
North Carolina-based specialty chemicals manufacturing company Albemarle Corp. agreed to pay over $218 million to settle DOJ and SEC investigations on alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The violations resulted from Albemarle's payment of bribes to government officials in Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
Farhad Nafeiy, a California-based telecommunications consultant, pleaded guilty this week to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he breached the scope of sanctions licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week suspended the export privileges of three people for illegally exporting weapons or ammunition to Mexico and one person for illegally exporting firearms and gun parts to Haiti.
The Bureau of Industry and Security again renewed temporary denial orders for three Russian airlines accused of violating U.S. export controls against Russia. BIS first suspended the export privileges of Aeroflot, Azur Air and UTair in April 2022, barring the airlines from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (see 2204070010), and renewed their denial orders for 180 days from October (see 2210040008) and again from March (see 2303300013). BIS said all three airlines continue to "act in blatant disregard for U.S. export controls" by continuing to operate aircraft subject to the EAR. The orders include a table of recent flights operated by each airline.
DOJ's lawsuit against SpaceX looking into whether the space exploration firm wrongly relied on export control laws to justify its alleged hiring discrimination is unconstitutional, the company said in a Sept. 15 complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company also defended its hiring practices in its complaint, telling the court that it risks “severe consequences” for violating the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week corrected a temporary denial order against an Arizona resident to fix her home address. The order, issued in April, suspended Katie O’Brien's export privileges but mistakenly listed an Arizona address for another person with the same name. The agency had suspended O’Brien’s privileges for 10 years after she was convicted of making false statements or “misrepresentations” to the U.S. government during an investigation and for smuggling firearms to Mexico (see 2304170020).
New Hampshire-headquartered NuDay, also known as NuDay Syria, pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to file electronic export information, DOJ announced Sept. 8. From 2018 to 2021, the organization, founded as a nonprofit charity, completed over 100 shipments to Syria but falsely reported the goods would be delivered to Turkey and "artificially deflated" the value of the goods below the $2,500 EEI reporting threshold.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week suspended the export privileges of one person for illegally exporting dual-use technology to Libya and three others for illegally exporting weapons to Mexico or Ecuador.
DOJ last week announced its "first-ever criminal resolution" involving a company that violated sanctions by facilitating the sale and transport of Iranian oil. The agency said the cargo -- more than 980,000 barrels of Iranian oil that was allegedly shipped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- is now the subject of a civil forfeiture action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The forfeiture complaint alleges the oil is "subject to forfeiture based on U.S. terrorism and money laundering statutes," DOJ said Sept. 8.