California-based electronics parts manufacturer and supplier Integra Technologies agreed to pay the Bureau of Industry and Security $3.3 million after admitting to violating U.S. export controls on Russia, telling BIS that it didn’t realize the transistors it was shipping needed an export license.
The outbound investment legislation that lawmakers agreed Dec. 17 to include in a newly unveiled continuing resolution (CR) (see 2412170063) would expand upon the Biden administration’s August 2023 executive order (see 2308090066) by covering more artificial intelligence models and by adding hypersonic and related aerospace technologies.
Allison Aprahamian has been named the Republican press secretary for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She was previously the GOP communications director for the House Select Committee on China.
Paul Rosen, who has served as the Treasury Department’s lead official for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. since being confirmed by the Senate in 2022 (see 2205250017), left the agency earlier this month, he announced on LinkedIn.
The State Department approved a possible $300 million military sale to South Korea, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Dec. 16. The sale includes a “KDX-II Class Destroyers Product Improvement Program” and related elements of logistics and program support, and the principal contractors will include BAE Systems Integrated Defense Solutions, with others to be determined.
Canadian-German national Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of China, was sentenced Dec. 16 to two years in prison for conspiring to steal and transmit a U.S.-based electric vehicle company's trade secrets, DOJ announced. Pflugbeil pleaded guilty in June, admitting to trying to use a U.S. company's trade secrets to set up his own business in China (see 2406140025). Pflugbeil was originally charged alongside his business partner, Yilong Shao, who remains at large.
The U.S. this week arrested a dual U.S.-Iranian national living in Massachusetts and an Iranian national, charging both with conspiring to ship "sophisticated electronic components" from the U.S. to Iran in violation of U.S. export controls and sanctions.
Several lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to ease sanctions on Syria in light of the overthrow of the Assad regime by rebel forces.
The Biden administration should impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act on Republic of Georgia officials responsible for violence against those peacefully protesting the country’s democratic backsliding, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Dec. 16. “Now is the moment for the United States and our allies to stand strong with the people of Georgia in their pursuit of democracy and freedom,” Cardin said. Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., made similar comments two weeks earlier (see 2412020009).
The Treasury Department recently issued guidance about when deals may qualify for a national interest exemption, which could exempt those transactions from being captured under the agency’s upcoming outbound investment prohibitions (see 2410280043). The document outlines the process for requesting an exemption, what information the U.S. requester needs to submit to the agency, the factors the government may consider, and more.