Tina Chen, a resident of Las Vegas and owner of electronics and computer components exporter Top One Zone, was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to export goods from the U.S. to Iran, the Department of Justice said in a May 28 news release. Chen allegedly worked with others to purchase and ship goods from U.S. companies through entities in Hong Kong to individuals in Iran without a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Chen hid the identities of the end-users, DOJ alleged. She is charged with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations -- a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

In complying with a May 25 U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia order to remove the “Communist Chinese military company” designation from Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a FAQ May 27 saying that the prohibitions under the designation “do not apply with respect to Xiaomi.” The Defense Department and Xiaomi jointly moved to drop the label after District Judge Rudolph Contreras said it violated the Administrative Procedure Act and was made on insufficient evidence (see 2105120047). To date, two other companies so labeled have challenged the designation in the D.C. district court, and one, Luokung Technologies, has been granted a preliminary injunction.

Two Bolivian nationals and three U.S. citizens were arrested on charges of bribery and money laundering relating to payments made by a U.S. company and individuals to secure a Bolivian government contract, then the laundering of the payments through the U.S. financial system, the Department of Justice announced. Luis Berkman, Bryan Berkman and Philip Lichtenfeld allegedly paid $602,000 in bribes to Arturo Murillo Prijic, the then-Bolivian minister of government; Sergio Mendez Mendizabal, the Ministry of Government's former chief of staff; and one other Bolivian official. The bribes were paid to secure a $5.6 million contract for tear gas and other non-lethal equipment between Bryan Berkman's Florida-based company and the Bolivian Ministry of Defense, DOJ said.

The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for an Iranian businessman for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, BIS said in a May 24 order. Behzad Pourghannad was convicted Nov. 12, 2019, for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he worked with others to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies (see 1911150023). Pourghannad was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a $100 fine. BIS also revoked his export privileges for 10 years from the date of his conviction, and revoked any BIS-issued licenses in which he had an interest at the time of his conviction.

Italian company GVA International Oil and Gas Services pleaded guilty to violating the Export Control Act after conspiring to obtain a power turbine for use on a Russian Arctic deepwater drilling platform. According to a May 26 press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, GVA admitted to working with Russia-based energy company KS Engineering to procure the $17.3 million turbine from a U.S. manufacturer for the project -- a move prohibited by the Commerce Department without first obtaining a license. While attempting to finalize the transaction, GVA employee Bruno Caparini, along with a KSE employee and an employee of the Georgia-based firm World Mining and Oil Supply, was arrested. GVA owner Gabrielle Villone is currently in prison serving a 28-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the ECA.

Two former Chadian diplomats posted to the U.S. were charged with bribery and money laundering after allegedly accepting a $2 million bribe from a Canadian energy company in exchange for obtaining oil rights in the African nation. Mahamoud Bechir and Youssouf Takane took the bribe and conspired to launder it while serving as diplomats in Chad's Embassy in Washington, 2009 to 2014, the Department of Justice said in a May 24 news release. The diplomats allegedly pledged to leverage their influence in Chad to secure the energy company the oil rights. The president of the Canadian company, Naeem Tyab, pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi Corporation, along with the Department of Defense, moved to have the company's designation as a "Communist Chinese military company" vacated, in a May 20 joint proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The move follows the court's finding that the designation was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (see 2105120047).

GOWIN Semiconductor Corporation, a Chinese technology startup, is challenging its designation as a "Communist Chinese military company" (CCMC) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to a May 21 complaint. In the complaint, GOWIN attempts to prove it is not operated by the Chinese military by showing that its governing board of directors is "comprised of nine private-sector executives, two of whom are U.S. citizens (the CEO and the President)." GOWIN goes on to argue that DOD's lack of notice to the tech startup of the designation and lack of evidence in coming to a conclusion on the label violates its due process rights. The firm also says it will suffer irreparable harm from the CCMC label, and in fact, already has. "By losing U.S. and global support as a result of the CCMC designation, GOWIN has lost and will continue to lose market share to similarly situated [semiconductor] companies, many of which are more mature and firmly established than GOWIN," the complaint said.

The Commerce Department again renewed a temporary export denial order for Mahan Airways because the airline continues to violate the order and the Export Administration Regulations, according to a May 21 notice. The Iranian airline has been on the banned list since 2008. The latest renewal is for 180 days.

The 22 states, along with Washington, D.C., that challenged the Trump administration's decision to transfer "ghost gun" blueprints from the U.S. Munitions List to the less-restrictive Commerce Control List will not seek a review of the U.S.Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's decision to greenlight the move. According to a May 18 consent motion, lawyers for the State Department and the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls requested that the court immediately issue the mandate in the case, claiming that they received the go-ahead from the plaintiffs. Brendan Selby, counsel for the plaintiff State of Washington, told the defense that the states consent to the "immediate issuance of the mandate."