Arif Ugur, a Turkish national formerly living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was indicted July 21 for his role in illegally shipping defense technical data to Turkey for the production of U.S. military parts, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a news release. Ugur's actions were found to have violated the Arms Export Control Act. The Department of Defense found that some goods were substandard and not fit for use by the U.S. military, the release said. As sole managing officer of the Anatolia Group, Ugur, beginning in 2015 acquired various DOD contracts to provide the military with machine parts and hardware items, the Department of Justice alleged. The contracts required that the parts be manufactured in the U.S. Ugur claimed Anatolia made its parts stateside, when it actually made them in Turkey, Justice said. Ugur then oversaw the shipment of DOD technical data to Anatolia's facilities in Turkey -- a move that required an export license seeing as they were subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulation and the United States Munitions List. He did not acquire these licenses, violating the Arms Export Control Act, Justice said.
Changi Esquel Textile (CJE), a Hong Kong-based apparel company and part of the Esquel group of companies, filed for a preliminary injunction on July 19 against its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List. The company is seeking the injunction even though it expects an announcement soon on potential changes to its status on the list, it said. "The government has informed Plaintiffs that there will likely be a development regarding CJE’s continued Entity List designation by August 1," the company said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a New York online money transmitter and provider more than $1.4 million for violating U.S. sanctions on the Crimea region of Ukraine, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Payoneer came to a settlement agreement with OFAC after illegally processing more than 2,000 payments for parties in sanctioned countries, OFAC said in a July notice. The fine was OFAC’s third highest this year.
Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez will remain under the European Union's Venezuela sanctions regime after the European Union General Court rejected her application to annul the listings, a July 14 judgment said. The court said the European Council did not err in its finding that Rodriguez undermined democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela and that even if she no longer holds this position, she “remained linked to the regime.” This connection is enough to maintain the sanctions, the court said.
China announced retaliatory sanctions on six U.S. people and one entity in response to the U.S.'s Hong Kong Business Advisory and sanctions on Hong Kong officials (see 2107160030), China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said July 23. The sanctions target Wilbur Ross, former secretary of commerce; Carolyn Bartholomew, chair of the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission; Jonathan Stivers, former staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China; DoYun Kim of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs; Adam King, senior program manager of the International Republican Institute; and Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. China also sanctioned the Hong Kong Democracy Council. China said the U.S.'s updated Hong Kong business advisory was created to "groundlessly smear Hong Kong's business environment."
Arash Yousefi Jam, an Iranian national residing in Ontario, pleaded guilty to exporting U.S. goods to Iran (see 2101130010), the Department of Justice said July 22. Jam worked with others to obtain goods from at least three U.S. companies and ship them to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. The goods included nine electrical discharge boards, one CPU board, two servomotors and two railroad crankshafts, DOJ said. The goods were shipped through the United Arab Emirates and payment was made from banks outside Iran. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14.
Yi-Chi Shih, a Hollywood Hills, California, resident, was sentenced to over five years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally ship integrated circuits with military applications to China, the Department of Justice said July 22. Shih was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations and fined more than $600,000 in fines and restitution to the IRS (see 1907020071).
The House passed a bill last week that would authorize the State Department to provide rewards for information about sanctions evasion. The Bassam Barabandi Rewards for Justice Act, passed July 20, would allow the U.S. to pay for information about illegal exports, services or assistance that violates U.S. or United Nations sanctions or trade restrictions. The Senate version of the bill was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations July 21. The bill is named after Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who defected from the government.
The Congressional Research Service on July 22 released an updated version of its report on U.S. policy toward Cuba, detailing sanctions and restrictions imposed on the country’s military, exports to the island, remittances and more. President Joe Biden recently authorized more sanctions against Cuba and hasn’t committed to repealing trade sanctions or other restrictions on sending remittances to the island (see 2107160013).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week opened registration for its annual conference (see 2104290004), which will be held virtually Sept. 2, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT. The conference will include sessions on BIS’s military end-user and end-use rules, export enforcement, licensing information, export compliance and regulatory updates from the Census Bureau and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Recorded sessions will be made available one month after the conference.