Financial asset managers Ralph Steinmann of Switzerland and Luis Fernando Vuteff of Argentina have been charged with money laundering in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scheme involving Venezuela's state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVS), the DOJ announced. Steinmann and Vuteff face up to 20 years in prison for their role in a $1.2 billion international scheme. According to court documents, the two conspired with others in a bribery scheme using the U.S. financial system and international bank accounts from 2014 to 2018. Steinmann, Vuteff and others allegedly agreed to create a laundering mechanism to launder $200 million from the scheme and to open bank accounts on behalf of two Venezuelan public officials to receive the bribe payments, the DOJ said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently revoked export privileges for four people after they illegally exported defense items or weapons ammunition.
Kambiz Attar Kashani, a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export U.S. goods, technology and services to end users in Iran, including to the Iranian government, DOJ announced June 28. Kashani used two United Arab Emirates companies to evade U.S. export laws between 2019 and 2021 by buying electronic goods, technology and services from U.S. companies without getting licenses from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ said. Kashani took orders from the Central Bank of Iran -- a designated entity, as it provides support to known terrorist organizations, the U.S. said. The defendant faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, and he already has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine in addition to any owed forfeiture.
A $325 million superyacht allegedly owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and seized by U.S. authorities in Fiji has docked in San Diego after a legal battle in the Asia-Pacific island, Bloomberg reported June 28. The Amadea arrived in San Diego June 27 after a few days in Honolulu. The U.S. hired a new crew in Fiji to sail the ship, leaving the island June 7.
New Hampshire-based company Intertech Trading Corp. violated the law when it failed to file export information for equipment it sent to Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. alleged in a filing at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.The parts, which included laser assemblies, were "falsely described" as aquarium and multimedia parts and valued at lower amounts than their actual worth, DOJ said.
Angel Del Villar and Luca Scalisi, two California music business executives, were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced June 14. The two face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.
Joe Sery, former owner and CEO of Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List to China, India and other countries without first getting a license from the State Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced June 9. Sery's actions violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulation, and he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week approved a $2 million settlement agreement with Hapag-Lloyd for alleged shipping violations involving the company’s detention and demurrage practices. Hapag-Lloyd also agreed to take several steps to improve its billing practices, including posting an updated tariff policy to its website, conducting a “training session” on the FMC’s detention and demurrage rule for all employees involved in billing, and publishing on its website a “complete list of locations that it has authorized to accept empty Hapag-Lloyd containers.”
Marcelo Irigoin, of Hialeah, Florida, owner of an unnamed electronics exporter, pleaded guilty to money laundering proceeds from the illegal sale of narcotics through the Black Market Peso Exchange, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Irigoin shuffled over $1.4 million through the peso exchange -- a market through which narcotics proceeds are bought and sold then shipped overseas through shell companies and "mirrored transactions," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the U.S. a warrant to seize a Boeing 787-8 aircraft and Gulfstream G650ER aircraft owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, DOJ announced June 6. The district court said the airplanes are subject to seizure and forfeiture based on probable cause of violating the Export Control Reform Act and recent Russia sanctions imposed following the country's invasion of Ukraine (see 2206060038).