Virgil Griffith, a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to aid North Korea in evading U.S. sanctions via cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said. Griffith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Manual Dominquez, a resident of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced to 87 months in prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and attempting to smuggle those firearms into Mexico, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas said April 11. Dominquez was arrested after he took possession of two Barrett .50 caliber rifles, with the intent to eventually smuggle them into Mexico. The rifles were meant for members of the Cartel De Norte, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Dominquez was previously convicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, precluding his possession of a firearm or ammunition.
Brenda Belinda Barba, a resident of McAllen, Texas, pleaded guilty April 7 to illegally exporting firearms and ammunition, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced. Barba attempted to export a Glock 9mm and .22 caliber pistols, four Glock pistol magazines and 550 rounds of ammunition of varying caliber to Mexico, the office said. In November, Barba attempted to cross into Mexico at the Anzalduas Port of Entry, telling border authorities that she had nothing to declare. The export-controlled goods were found after an inspection of her vehicle. The defendant will be sentenced July 18 and faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
Roger Ng, former managing director of The Goldman Sachs Group, was convicted by a federal jury in the Eastern District of New York for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a scheme with Malaysia's state-owned investment and development fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, DOJ announced. Ng was found guilty of conspiring to bribe a dozen foreign officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to obtain business for Goldman Sachs from 1MDB.
Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian oligarch, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with violating U.S. sanctions in his efforts to establish television networks in Russia and Greece and acquire a television network in Bulgaria, DOJ announced April 6. Malofeyev is charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and violations of U.S. sanctions relating to the hiring of U.S. citizen and television producer Jack Hanick to set up the networks. Malofeyev allegedly transferred a $10 million investment from a U.S. bank to a business associate in Greece in violation of the U.S. asset freeze on the oligarch.
A $90 million yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg was seized by Spanish law enforcement at the behest of the U.S., DOJ announced April 4. The 255-foot luxury yacht, the Tango, was subject to forfeiture following the issuance of a seizure warrant filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The warrant alleged that the yacht was subject to forfeiture based on violations of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions laws, DOJ said.
Charles Hunter Hobson, a former coal company executive, was arrested for allegedly violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a scheme to bribe Egyptian government officials over contracts with an Egyptian state-owned company, Al Nasr for Coke and Chemicals, DOJ said. Hobson, of Knoxville, Tennessee, is also charged with laundering funds and receiving kickbacks. He faces one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to launder money, two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Tuqiang Xie, of Irvine, California, was sentenced to a year in prison for brokering the sales of export-controlled defense articles from China and filing a false corporate tax return, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said March 31. In 2019, Xie pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and one count of filing a false tax return. Sentencing took place after hearing in Chicago. In the plea agreement, Xie admitted to using his Irvine-based company, Bio-Medical Optics, as a broker for the shipment of defense articles listed on the U.S. Munitions List and the U.S. Munitions Import List. Xie had not obtained the required export license for these items.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week revoked export privileges for five people after they illegally exported defense items or weapons ammunition.
A Texas U.S. district court found that Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. committed visa fraud to get employees in the U.S. Making the determination during a hearing on whether to revoke ZTE's probation for violating sanctions on Iran, Judge Ed Kinkeade of the Northern District of Texas said that the court decided not to revoke it and to resentence ZTE after looking at the evidence (United States v. ZTE Corporation, N.D. Tex. #3:17-00120).