Three election voting machine and service provider company executives, along with a former chairman of the Philippines' Commission on Elections, were charged with bribing officials in the Philippines to retain business in the 2016 Philippines elections, DOJ announced. A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment against the four men Aug. 8, charging two of them with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and violating the FCPA.
Wisconsin companies Precision Cable Assemblies and Global Engineered Products, along with their chief executives Ryan Schmus and Richard Horky, paid more than $10 million to settle charges they avoided millions of dollars in customs duties on Chinese goods, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced.
Taiwan national Pen Yu was sentenced Aug. 2 to three years and eight months in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud in a scheme to defraud a German biochemical company and divert biochemical products to China using "falsified export documents," DOJ announced. Yu was sentenced by a federal court in Florida, which also ordered the forfeiture of the proceeds of the scheme, which amounted to $100,000.
Don Church of Texas pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to illegally importing protected Australian reptiles into the U.S. on behalf of a "fake zoo which he represented as legitimate," DOJ announced. Church entered 165 Australian reptiles, all covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, by giving U.S. and Australian authorities false information.
Jordan Goudreau of Melbourne, Florida, and Yacsy Alvarez of Tampa were charged with conspiracy to violate export laws, smuggling goods from the U.S., violating the Arms Export Control Act and violating the Export Control Reform Act, DOJ announced. The pair allegedly conspired with others to ship "AR-type firearms, night vision devices, laser sights and other equipment" from the U.S. to Colombia.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week ordered importer Delta Uniforms and its owner, George Iloulian, to pay over $1.3 million for avoiding customs duties on medical uniforms, footwear and other apparel. Judge Paul Gardephe said they violated the False Claims Act and must pay triple the amount of the evaded duties and a $557,880 civil penalty.
DOJ reached a deal with the former general counsel of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, "Jasmine" Loo Ai Swan, to recover artwork by Pablo Picasso and a Switzerland-based financial account linked to funds allegedly taken as part of the 1MDB scheme, DOJ announced. The agency also obtained forfeiture orders on assets bought with proceeds from the scheme by Low Take Jho, also known as Jho Low, including diamond jewelry and artwork from Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, the agency said.
An Iranian national was extradited to the U.S. from the U.K. on charges related to his alleged role in a scheme to evade U.S. export controls by shipping electronic testing technology to Iran, DOJ announced. Saeid Haji Agha Mousaei made his initial appearance in an Illinois U.S. District Court on July 22, where he faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., smuggling goods from the U.S., wire fraud and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Alabama resident and business owner Ray Hunt pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to illegally export U.S.-origin goods to Iran, DOJ announced. Hunt was charged in December after the agency said Hunt conspired to ship parts used in the oil and gas industry to Iran and submitted false export information to the U.S. government (see 2211300011). Hunt faces a maximum five-year prison sentence.
Minsu Fang, a Chinese national, was indicted for allegedly conspiring to import what the U.S. government believes to be "the largest amount of fentanyl precursors found in the Southern District of Texas and one of the largest in the country," DOJ announced July 22.