The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut ordered Estonia-based exporter By Trade OU to forfeit about $826,000 in connection with the attempted export of a dual-use export-controlled item to Russia, DOJ announced. The company, along with a Latvia-based corporation, conspired to ship a jig grinder made in Connecticut to Russia.
DOJ is seeking the forfeiture of over 1 million rounds of ammunition, thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades and thousands of pounds of propellant for rocket-propelled grenades that it said the U.S. Navy seized en route to militant groups in Yemen from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Filing a complaint March 31 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, DOJ said the action is part of an effort "to enforce U.S. sanctions against the IRGC and the Iranian regime" and the claims are "merely allegations."
The former head of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, pleaded not guilty on March 30 during a proceeding at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to bribing Chinese authorities, Reuters reported. The bribery charge, filed as a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, was added to Bankman-Fried's indictment this week and alleges that the former executive paid around $40 million in cryptocurrency to one or more Chinese government officials to "induce them" to unfreeze certain cryptocurrency trading accounts held by Alameda Research, one of Bankman-Fried's other companies (see 2303280037) (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).
The U.S. this week charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's anti-bribery provisions. Filing a superseding indictment at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York March 27, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Bankman-Fried and others paid around $40 million in cryptocurrency to one or more Chinese government officials to "induce them" to unfreeze certain cryptocurrency trading accounts held by one of Bankman-Fried's companies, Alameda Research (U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y. # 22-00673).
DOJ announced the resolution of two civil cases in a Texas district court on March 27 in which the government recovered around $53.1 million, including a promissory note worth $16 million, that played a part in a bribery scheme in Nigeria that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The $53.1 million mark represented the "net liquidated value" of assets taken from Nigerian businessmen Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore.
Estonian electronics exporter By Trade OU asked a court to issue a sentence against the company that would require it to forfeit all its assets as punishment for violating U.S. export controls against Russia. Filing a sentencing memorandum with the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, By Trade OU offered up its remaining assets, totalling over $337,000, since it would not be able to pay any fine ordered by the court "due to its financial resources." The company said it would then "cease operations" (United States v. By Trade OU, D. Conn. # 22-00110)
Ericsson pleaded guilty to breaching its 2019 deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ relating to its violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company admitted to violating the FCPA and agreed to pay over $206 million in criminal penalties during a proceeding at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bloomberg reported (U.S. v. Ericsson, S.D.N.Y. # 19-00884).
Five people from Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were charged in two cases at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. They allegedly tried to obtain and export U.S. technology to Iran from 2005 to 2013.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York greenlighted the seizure of a $25 million Boeing 737-7JU aircraft owned by sanctioned Russian firm Rosneft Oil Co. DOJ said the court found probable cause to seize the aircraft due to Export Control Reform Act and Russian sanctions violations. U.S. sanctions on Russia specifically prohibit a plane made in the U.S. from entering Russia without a license. Since February 2022, the plane left and reentered Russia "at least seven times, in violation of federal law," and is currently thought to be in Russia, DOJ said March 8. The seizure warrant stemmed from the work of Task Force KleptoCapture, the interagency task force charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Roger Ng, former managing director of The Goldman Sachs Group, was sentenced on March 9 to 10 years in prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. Federal prosecutors sought 15 years for the investment banker.