DOJ unveiled last week that it had seized two "mission crew trainers" in 2024 that allegedly were bound for the Chinese military from a South African flight academy on the Entity List. The agency made the announcement Jan. 15 while filling a forfeiture complaint for both trainers with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
An Indian national was sentenced Jan. 15 to 30 months in prison for conspiring with others to illegally "export controlled aviation components and a navigation and flight control system to end users in Russia," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon announced. Sanjay Kaushik pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to sell export-controlled dual-use goods to Russian end users.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
In oral argument Jan. 16 regarding the Commerce Department's 2021 administrative review of multilayered wood flooring from China, Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif asked counsel for exporters and the government what documentation might be required to prove to Commerce that a private Chinese company wasn’t government-controlled (Baroque Timber Industries (Zhongshan) Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00106).
Jinchao Wei, a former sailor with the U.S. Navy who was found guilty in August of illegally exporting military information and technical data to China (see 2508210039), was sentenced this week to 200 months in prison. Wei was convicted on several counts, including espionage and illegally exporting technical data related to defense articles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Christopher Rigali left DOJ last week after working as a trial lawyer in the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section since 2022, he announced on LinkedIn. Rigali, who first joined DOJ in 2018, investigated and prosecuted cases involving export controls, sanctions, espionage and more.
David Horn has left his position as acting chief counsel at the Office of Foreign Assets Control after taking over the role in August, he announced on LinkedIn last week. Horn had worked at OFAC since 2023, including as assistant chief counsel and an attorney-adviser.
The U.S. on Jan. 2 opposed three wildlife advocacy groups' bid to have the Court of International Trade compel the U.S. to comply with its settlement agreement with the groups by requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to bar the importation of fish and fish products from all harvesting nations that don't meet Marine Mammal Protect Act (MMPA) standards (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Howard Lutnick, CIT # 24-00148).
Uzbekistan national and resident Saodat Narzieva sued the Office of Foreign Assets Control and OFAC Director Bradley Smith Dec. 2, saying the agency mistakenly included her in an April 2023 round of Russia-related sanctions, causing her "substantial" harm.