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

United States. During the meeting, he also offered to provide people to train the FARC in the use
of the arms. The investigation was conducted by the DEA.
$4 Million Arms Shipment to Cote d’Ivoire – On March 26, 2012, Michael Barry Shor, of
Alexandria, Va., was sentenced in the Northern District of California to 18 months in prison, after
pleading guilty on Aug. 1, 2010 to one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control
Act. In pleading guilty, Shor admitted that, beginning in July 2009 until about April 21, 2010, he
conspired with others to illegally export 4,000 Glock 9mm handguns, 200,000 rounds of
ammunition, and 50,000 tear gas grenades from the United States to the Cote d’ Ivoire on behalf
of the Cote d’ Ivoire Defense Ministry, purportedly for use in the 2010 elections in that country.
According to court documents filed in the case, federal agents learned in 2009 that Shor, located
in the United States, was working to broker the export of arms and ammunition to Cote d’Ivoire.
During investigation that ensued, Shor revealed to undercover agents that he was brokering the
deal on behalf of the Defense Minister of Cote d’ Ivoire. In April 2010, officials in Cote d’ Ivoire
wire transferred $1.9 million from a bank in New York to an undercover bank account in San
Jose, Calif., as a 50 percent down payment for the shipment of arms and ammunition. Shor was
then arrested by ICE agents. After his arrest, ICE agents were provided with information on the
identity of several individuals from the Cote d’Ivoire who were assigned to conduct an inspection
of a sample of the weapons to be shipped from the United States. On Aug. 31, 2010, Nguessan
Yao, a citizen of the Cote d’Ivoire and other co-conspirators were picked up from a location in
New York City and were shown 500 9mm pistols, 1,000 tear gas grenades and 100,000 rounds of
9mm ammunition by the agents at a location in New Jersey. A few days later, these conspirators
arranged for another $1.9 million to be wire transferred to a government controlled bank account.
Yao was subsequently arrested. On Sept. 22, 2010, both Shor and Yao were charged in a
superseding indictment in the Northern District of California with one count of conspiracy to
export arms in violation of a United Nations Security Council Arms Embargo, and in violation of
a U.S. law and regulation; and one count of attempting to export defense articles. Yao pleaded
guilty on Oct. 4, 2011 to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and was sentenced on
Nov. 22, 2011 to one year and one day in prison. The investigation was conducted by ICE.
Military Lasers to Canada – On March 22, 2012, Joel Stone pleaded guilty in the Western
District of Texas to receiving stolen property, illegal export of defense articles and money
laundering. Stone illegally exported to Canada three stolen U.S. Military Advanced Target
Pointer Illuminating Aiming Lasers, which are defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List. Stone
was arrested on Feb. 2, 2012 after being charged in a sealed criminal information on Jan. 12,
2012.
Night Vision Technology Overseas – On March 5, 2012, Sean Elias Sayegh, a retired Marine
Corps staff sergeant who recently worked in the Marine Aviation Supply Office at Edwards Air
Force Base in California, was arrested for allegedly lying to the government in connection with a
scheme to illegally export military night vision technology overseas. Sayegh, who retired from
the Marine Corps in December 2011, was charged in a March 2, 2012 indictment in the Central
District of California with four counts of making false statements on customs declaration forms,
stating that packages he was shipping contained camera lenses and other camera equipment, when
the items were actually laser light interference filters (LIFs). The alleged violations, which
occurred between December 2009 and February 2010, involved the shipment of more than 100
LIFs. LIFs, which are used with military night vision goggles, are on the U.S. Munitions List and
cannot legally be exported without a license issued by the Department of State. This
investigation was conducted by ICE, NCIS, DCIS, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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