The U.S. obtained a warrant to seize an airplane owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, DOJ said Aug. 8. The agency said the Airbus A319-100 aircraft was designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in June and is owned by Skoch through a series of shell companies and trusts tied to his “romantic partner.” The aircraft is worth more than $90 million, DOJ said.
The U.S. has filed a slew of criminal indictments aimed at U.S. companies engaged in the trade of shark fins to show how they take advantage of federal and state laws to engage in the practice, The Associated Press reported. For instance, a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida accuses Elite Sky International -- a Florida-based exporter -- of falsely labeling around 5,666 pounds of shark fins meant for China as live Florida spiny lobsters.
Three men currently believed to be residing in Lebanon -- George Ajaltouni, Jean Issa and Nakhle "Mike" Nader -- were charged with smuggling and illegally exporting firearms from Ohio to Lebanon, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced. Writing three indictments that were unsealed in the District Court on July 26, the U.S. Attorney's Office lays out separate smuggling schemes -- one with Ajaltouni and Issa, one with just Ajaltouni and the other just with Nader, though it is believed that Ajaltouni and Nader are acquaintances currently living near Batroun, Lebanon.
Esteban Eduardo Merlo Hidaglo, a Florida resident, and Christian Patricio Pintado Garcia and Luis Lenin Maldonado Matute, both Ecuadorian citizens, were charged for their alleged roles in a bribery and money laundering scheme to get business from Ecuadorian state-owned insurance firms, DOJ announced. Charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the defendants allegedly paid bribes to officials at Seguras Sucre S.A. and Seguras Rocafuerte S.A. -- the state-run insurance companies -- to retain business for themselves, an intermediary company and reinsurance clients, court documents show.
Herdade Lokua and Jospin Mujangi, citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to trafficking wildlife from the DRC to Seattle, DOJ announced. The pair admitted to conspiracy and Lacey Act violations by smuggling elephant ivory, white rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales to the U.S.
A laboratory equipment distributor based in New Hampshire pleaded guilty to failing to file export information on shipments to Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire announced July 11. From 2015 to 2019, Intertech Trading shipped lab equipment to these countries and elsewhere, falsifying commercial invoices and shipping forms. Intertech admitted that the information was fake and that it used false descriptions such as "lamp for aquarium" and "spares for welding system," as opposed to identifying the scientific equipment in the shipments.
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.
Onur Aksoy, the CEO of multiple companies and a Miami resident, was indicted July 7 on charges of running a trafficking operation that imported fraudulent and counterfeit Cisco networking equipment worth over $1 billion, DOJ announced July 8. Aksoy ran at least 19 companies formed in New Jersey and Florida along with 15 Amazon storefronts, more than 10 eBay storefronts and various other entities that imported the counterfeit devices from China and Hong Kong, reselling them in the U.S. and abroad, falsely claiming that the goods were new. The scheme raked in over $100 million in revenue, DOJ said.
Delta Airlines agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by falsely reporting information on the transfer of U.S. mail to foreign posts or other recipients under contracts with the U.S. Postal Service, DOJ announced June 30. Delta entered into contracts with USPS to take possession of U.S. mail receptacles at six locations either in the U.S. or at various locations of the departments of State and Defense around the world, then deliver the mail to various international and domestic spots, DOJ said.
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.