Major Export Enforcement Cases - Directorate of Defense Trade ...

The weapons included numerous semiautomatic handguns, rifles, and shotguns. The smuggling
scheme came to light after authorities in China seized a package containing firearms with defaced
serial numbers shipped from Queens, N.Y. Thereafter, U.S. agents traveled to China and
examined the firearms. Using forensic techniques, agents learned that one of the seized weapons
had originally been purchased in North Carolina. Among the weapons seized in China were those
Debose provided to his associates for export. On May 20, 2012, Debose was arrested in
Smithfield, N.C., pursuant to a May 17, 2012 criminal complaint charging him with illegally
exporting firearms to China without the required licenses. Lin and another Chinese national Lila
Li, were also arrested and charged in connection with the case in an April 16, 2012 indictment in
the Eastern District of New York. This investigation was conducted by ICE, ATF, IRS and BIS
Controlled Microelectronics to Russian Military and Intelligence Agencies – On Oct. 3, 2012,
an indictment was unsealed in the Eastern District of New York charging 11 members of a
Russian procurement network operating in the United States and Russia, as well as a Houstonbased
export company, Arc Electronics Inc., and a Moscow-based procurement firm, Apex
System L.L.C. ,with illegally exporting high-tech microelectronics from the United States to
Russian military and intelligence agencies. Alexander Fishenko, an owner and executive of both
the American and Russian companies, is also charged with operating as an unregistered agent of
the Russian government inside the U.S. by illegally procuring the microelectronics on behalf of
the Russian government. The microelectronics allegedly exported to Russia are subject to U.S.
controls due to their potential use in a wide range of military systems, including radar and
surveillance systems, weapons guidance systems and detonation triggers. In conjunction with the
unsealing of these charges, the Department of Commerce added 165 foreign persons and
companies who received, transshipped, or otherwise facilitated the export of controlled
commodities by the defendants to its “Entity List.” As alleged in the indictment, between
October 2008 and the present, Fishenko and the other defendants engaged in a conspiracy to
obtain advanced microelectronics from manufacturers and suppliers located in the United States
and to export those high-tech goods to Russia, while evading the government export licensing
system. The microelectronics shipped to Russia included analog-to-digital converters, static
random access memory chips, microcontrollers and microprocessors. The defendants allegedly
exported many of these goods, frequently through intermediary procurement firms, to Russian
end users, including Russian military and intelligence agencies, and went to great lengths to
conceal their procurement activities. The investigation uncovered a Russian Ministry of Defense
document designating an Apex subsidiary as a company “certified” to procure and deliver
military equipment and electronics. The FBI recovered a letter sent by a specialized electronics
laboratory of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s primary domestic intelligence
agency, to an Apex affiliate regarding certain microchips obtained for the FSB by Arc. The
defendants’ principal port of export for these goods was John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York. In addition to Fishenko, Arc and Apex, the indictment also charges Shavkat
Abdullaev, Lyudmila Bagdikian, Anastasia Diatlova, Viktoria Klebanova, Alexander Posobilov,
Sevinj Taghiyeva, and Svetalina Zagon, who were arrested in Houston on Oct. 2 and Oct 3, 2012.
Three others charged in the indictment, Sergey Klinov, Yuri Savin, and Dimitriy Shegurov, were
based overseas and were not arrested. The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Department
of Commerce (BIS), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the IRS.
Military Technical Data and Trade Secrets to China – On Sept. 26, 2012, Sixing Liu, aka
“Steve Liu,” a native of China with a PhD in electrical engineering who worked as a senior staff
engineer for Space & Navigation, a New Jersey-based division of L-3 Communications, was
convicted in the District of New Jersey of exporting sensitive U.S. military technology to China,
stealing trade secrets and lying to federal agents. The jury convicted Liu of nine of 11 counts of
an April 5, 2012 second superseding indictment, specifically six counts of violating the Arms
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