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.

A $325 million superyacht allegedly owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and seized by U.S. authorities in Fiji has docked in San Diego after a legal battle in the Asia-Pacific island, Bloomberg reported June 28. The Amadea arrived in San Diego June 27 after a few days in Honolulu. The U.S. hired a new crew in Fiji to sail the ship, leaving the island June 7.

Marlon Moody, a former employee at cargo handling company Alliance Ground International, was sentenced to one year in prison for stealing four gold bars that were being shipped from Australia to New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. In April 2020, employees of Alliance, which provides ground handling services at Los Angeles International Airport, were tasked with offloading and securing a shipment of gold bars that were stopping in L.A. en route to New York. The shipment -- a collection of 2,000 gold bars each valued at around $56,000 --- arrived via Singapore Airlines at the direction of a Canadian bank.

Angel Del Villar and Luca Scalisi, two California music business executives, were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced June 14. The two face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

Joe Sery, former owner and CEO of Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List to China, India and other countries without first getting a license from the State Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced June 9. Sery's actions violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulation, and he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Federal Maritime Commission this week approved a $2 million settlement agreement with Hapag-Lloyd for alleged shipping violations involving the company’s detention and demurrage practices. Hapag-Lloyd also agreed to take several steps to improve its billing practices, including posting an updated tariff policy to its website, conducting a “training session” on the FMC’s detention and demurrage rule for all employees involved in billing, and publishing on its website a “complete list of locations that it has authorized to accept empty Hapag-Lloyd containers.”

Marcelo Irigoin, of Hialeah, Florida, owner of an unnamed electronics exporter, pleaded guilty to money laundering proceeds from the illegal sale of narcotics through the Black Market Peso Exchange, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Irigoin shuffled over $1.4 million through the peso exchange -- a market through which narcotics proceeds are bought and sold then shipped overseas through shell companies and "mirrored transactions," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the U.S. a warrant to seize a Boeing 787-8 aircraft and Gulfstream G650ER aircraft owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, DOJ announced June 6. The district court said the airplanes are subject to seizure and forfeiture based on probable cause of violating the Export Control Reform Act and recent Russia sanctions imposed following the country's invasion of Ukraine (see 2206060038).

The Securities and Exchange Commission last week fined Tenaris, a Luxembourg-based manufacturer of steel pipe products, more than $78 million for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Employees and agents of Tenaris’ Brazilian subsidiary allegedly paid about $10.4 million in bribes to a Brazilian government official involved with the bidding process at Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned petroleum company, the SEC said June 2.