DOJ on May 1 filed a forfeiture action against "a set of aircraft landing gear for a Boeing 737-800" CBP detained in Miami in September, the agency announced. The gear was bought to benefit a Kyrgyzstan-based transshipper of dual-use items "servicing" Russia, "in violation of U.S. economic sanctions."
Brooklyn, New York, resident Nikolay Grigorev pleaded guilty April 30 for his role in a scheme to illicitly export electronic components from the U.S. to companies linked to the Russian military, DOJ announced.
Kitchenware retailer Williams-Sonoma agreed to pay $3.2 million in civil penalties and "stop making false and misleading claims about the origins of its products," settling a lawsuit brought in a California court, DOJ announced. The agency alleged that Williams-Sonoma violated a Federal Trade Commission administrative order barring the company from advertising wholly imported goods and goods containing "significant imported content" as being "Made in the USA" (U.S. v. Williams-Sonoma, N.D. Cal. # 24-02396).
Chinese nationals Han Li and Lin Chen were charged for their role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled U.S. technology to Chinese end users, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Export Administration Regulations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced.
The former comptroller general of Ecuador, Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni, was convicted on April 23 for his part in an international bribery and money laundering scheme, DOJ announced.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged four Iranian nationals -- Hossein Harooni, Reza Kazemifar, Komeil Baradaran Salmani and Alireza Shafie Nasab -- for allegedly conducting cyber intrusions on U.S. government and private entities, including the Treasury and State departments, defense contractors and two New York-based companies, DOJ announced.
Gzuniga Ltd., a luxury handbag seller, its founder Nancy Teresa Gonzalez de Barberi and Gonzalez's associate, Mauricio Giraldo, were sentenced to prison for illegally importing to the U.S. goods made from protected wildlife from Colombia, DOJ announced April 22.
DOJ charged 10 individuals with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela by shipping aircraft parts to service the company's fleet in Venezuela.
Florida-based steel traders John Unsalan and Sergey Karpushkin were sentenced to six years and 21 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in a scheme to help Russian oligarch Sergey Kurchenko violate U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced.
Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."