BIS Sets 15 Year Export Bans for Unlicensed Export of Autopilots to China
The Bureau of Industry and Security banned Harold and Yaming Nina Qi Hanson from exporting for 15 years, in connection with false statements to BIS and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials investigating the unlicensed export of autopilots to China by the couple. According to BIS, the two exported 20 autopilots valued at $90,340 to China without a license. Autopilots are subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
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On Jan. 29, 2009, Harold Hanson told BIS and FBI investigators that he did not disclose the intended end use to the Canadian seller of the autopilots. But according to the export denial order, Hanson had communicated by email that the autopilots would be used for research projects to record thunderstorm and tornado development in the Great Plains (here). Meanwhile, on the same day, Qi Hanson told the investigators that several old university classmates had given her the $75,000 used to buy the autopilots in Canada. But she knew that Fang Yu, president of China-based Xi’an XianYu Aviation Technical Group, had given her the money instead, the order said (here).