U.K. businessman Graham Bonham-Carter was indicted Oct. 11 for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, wire fraud connected to funding Deripaska's American properties and working to expatriate Deripaska's U.S.-based artwork through misrepresentations, DOJ announced. The charges stem from the work of Task Force KleptoCapture, the law enforcement group tasked with enforcing the U.S.'s sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Teo Boon Ching, a Malaysian national, was charged with conspiring to traffic more than 70 kilograms of rhinoceros horns worth over $725,000 and launder the proceeds of the sale of the horns, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Ching was arrested in Thailand in June and extradited to the U.S. on Oct. 7 to appear before Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He faces a maximum of five years in prison for the trafficking charge and 20 years in prison for the two counts of money laundering.

Jorge Murrillo, former Miami resident, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by importing illegal hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22) from China, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced Oct. 5. Murillo imported over 300,000 kilograms of HCFC-22, a popular refrigerant for residential heat pump and air conditioning systems, worth over $1.5 million. He also was ordered to pay $5,794.84 in restitution for costs associated with storing the merchandise.

Eddy Johan Coopmans, a Ponte Vedra, Florida, resident, pleaded guilty Oct. 4 to conspiring to illegally export controlled technology out of the U.S. in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas announced. The technology included space grade field programmable gate array circuits meant for Russia and China. Cooper, along with an unnamed foreign national, communicated with individuals the pair believed would help them smuggle the technology, then paid them around $1.2 million and made false statements to government regulators, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Oct. 5. Coopmans was indicted in 2019 and faces up to five years in federal prison.

Richard Lant, a Nevada resident, pleaded guilty on Oct. 3 to conspiracy to illegally export tank helmets to Iran, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced. From May to October 2015, Lant and other co-conspirators, including Dariush Niknia, who pleaded guilty in September, worked to illegally sell 500 of the Russian-made tank helmets to Niknia's Iranian customer. The helmets were made for Russian-made T-72S battle tanks and have a "five-pin plug" feature needed for compatibility with a tank communication device, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and his associates Natalia Bardakova and Olga Shriki were charged with conspiring to violate the U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska and one of his corporations, Basic Element Limited, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Shriki also was charged with obstruction of justice relating to her alleged deletion of electronic records that pertained to her participation in the sanctions evasion scheme. Charges also were levied against Ekaterina Voronina, Deripaska's girlfriend, for making false statements to government officials during her attempted entry into the U.S. to give birth to Deripaska's child.

Peter Kisang Kim, a former engineer at Broadcom, was sentenced to eight months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Broadcom, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Sept. 20. A Ben Lomond, California, resident, Kim in May pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing trade secrets to help his new company's business prospects. Fifteen other counts of trade secrets theft were dismissed in connection with his sentencing. Following his incarceration, Kim will serve a three-year supervised release term.

Ghacham, a Paramount, California-based clothing wholesale company, agreed to plead guilty to criminally undervaluing imported garments in a scheme to skirt nearly $6.4 million in customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced Sept. 20. The scheme was also meant to hide the company's business with a woman in Mexico who has ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Brazilian airline GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will pay over $41 million to settle criminal and civil investigations by DOJ, SEC and Brazilian authorities on bribery charges, DOJ announced in a Sept. 15 news release. DOJ and the airline entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement over charges that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the airline agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $17 million.

Instec Inc., a scientific instrument technology company based in Colorado, and Dr. Zhong Zou, its owner and president, agreed to pay $625,000 to settle allegations that the company and Zou violated the False Claims Act, DOJ announced. Instec and Zou failed to comply with the requirements of the Buy American Act when selling scientific instruments claimed to have been made in the U.S. to U.S. federal agencies and national laboratories, DOJ said.