News & Updates

SAVANNAH, GA: An Atlanta man faces up to five years in prison after admitting he attempted to hide firearms in an overseas shipment of goods.

Shawn Sabi, 34, of Atlanta, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to an Information charging him with Submitting False or Misleading Export Information, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The plea subjects Sabi to a possible statutory sentence of up to five years in prison followed by two years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine. There is no parole in the federal system.

SAN ANTONIO – In San Antonio, a federal jury convicted Mehrdad Ansari, a 39-year-old Iranian citizen and a resident of the United Arab Emirates and Germany, for scheming to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iranian Trade Embargo. These parts had dual-use military and civilian capability and could be used in such systems as nuclear weapons, missile guidance and development, secure tactical radio communications, offensive electronic warfare, military electronic countermeasures (radio jamming), and radar warning and surveillance systems.

WASHINGTON – Today, Kevin J. Kurland, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export
Enforcement, Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), announced an administrative settlement of
$307,922 with FLIR Systems, Inc., located in Wilsonville, OR. The settlement follows an
investigation by the Portland Resident Office, San Jose Field Office of BIS’s Office of Export
Enforcement (OEE), after a voluntary self-disclosure by FLIR involving an egregious violation
of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).

WASHINGTON – On April 29 2021, Kevin J. Kurland, Acting Assistant Secretary for Export
Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
announced an administrative settlement of $3,290,000 with SAP SE (SAP), a multinational
software company based in Walldorf, Germany. SAP also agreed to complete three audits of its
export compliance program over a three year period. SAP voluntarily self-disclosed potential
violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to BIS, and cooperated with the

BOSTON – A Chinese national pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with illegally procuring and causing the illegal export of $100,000 worth of U.S. origin goods to Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU), a Chinese military university that is heavily involved in military research and works closely with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the advancement of its military capabilities.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) within the US Department of Commerce is pleased to announce the appointment of G. Nagesh Rao as Chief Information Officer, and his selection to the career Senior Executive Service ranks. Mr.

Anniversary event highlights strong U.S.-Malaysia partnership and the country’s role as a regional champion of strategic trade controls

SAVANNAH, GA: A Russian national and his engineering company have admitted to charges that they violated U.S. national security laws.

WASHINGTON – On February 24, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14017,
“America’s Supply Chains,” focusing on the need for resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains
to ensure U.S. economic prosperity and national security. The Executive Order directs the
Secretary of Commerce to, within 100 days, submit a report to the President identifying risks in
the semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging supply chains and proposing policy
recommendations to address these risks.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The United States has seized “r-m-n.net” and “Almaalomah.com,” two websites that were unlawfully utilized by Kata’ib Hizballah, a Specially Designated National and a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

“The internet must not be used as a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations to promote violent extremism and spread their hateful rhetoric,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We stand committed with our law enforcement partners to use all available resources to combat terrorism.”