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

agent responded to the request and agreed to supply the requested accelerometers. After nearly a
year of negotiations, with no deal finalized, Yang allegedly asked for Endevco 7270-200K
accelerometers, which are used for “smart” munitions, bunker-busting bombs and measuring
ground motions caused by nuclear and chemical explosions, among other things. In August and
October 2011, Yang allegedly caused two payments totaling $4,875 to be sent to the undercover
agent as a down payment for the accelerometers. According to the complaint, Yang subsequently
agreed to meet with the undercover agent in Bulgaria so the undercover agent could hand deliver
two Endevco accelerometers to him. After his arrest in Bulgaria, Yang was charged on Jan. 13,
2012 in a five-count indictment returned in the Southern District of California. In May 2012, a
Bulgarian court signed a final order of extradition and Yang was extradited to the United States to
face charges against him. On May 21, 2012, Yang was arraigned in the Southern District of
California. This investigation was conducted by ICE.
Dow and Cargill Trade Secrets to China – On Dec. 21, 2011, Kexue Huang, a Chinese national
and former resident of Indiana, was sentenced to 87 months in and three years supervised release
on charges of economic espionage to benefit a foreign university tied to the People’s Republic of
China (PRC) and theft of trade secrets. On Oct. 18, 2011, Huang pleaded guilty in the Southern
District of Indiana to these charges. In July 2010, Huang was charged in the Southern District of
Indiana with misappropriating and transporting trade secrets to the PRC while working as a
research scientist at Dow AgroSciences LLC. On Oct. 18, 2011, a separate indictment in the
District of Minnesota charging Huang with stealing a trade secret from a second company, Cargill
Inc., was unsealed. From January 2003 until February 2008, Huang was employed as a research
scientist at Dow. In 2005, he became a research leader for Dow in strain development related to
unique, proprietary organic insecticides marketed worldwide. Huang admitted that during his
employment at Dow, he misappropriated several Dow trade secrets. According to plea
documents, from 2007 to 2010, Huang transferred and delivered the stolen Dow trade secrets to
individuals in Germany and the PRC. With the assistance of these individuals, Huang used the
stolen materials to conduct unauthorized research to benefit foreign universities tied to the PRC.
Huang also admitted that he pursued steps to develop and produce the misappropriated Dow trade
secrets in the PRC. After Huang left Dow, he was hired in March 2008 by Cargill, an
international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and
services. Huang worked as a biotechnologist for Cargill until July 2009. Huang admitted that
during his employment with Cargill, he stole one of the company’s trade secrets – a key
component in the manufacture of a new food product, which he later disseminated to another
person, specifically a student at Hunan Normal University in the PRC. According to the plea
agreement, the aggregated loss from Huang’s conduct exceeds $7 million but is less than $20
million. This investigation was conducted by the FBI.
Infrared Military Technology to South Korea – On Dec. 20, 2011, EO System Company, Ltd,
located in Inchon, South Korea, and defendants Seok Hwan Lee, Tae Young Kim and Won Seung
Lee, all citizens and residents of South Korea, were indicted in the Northern District of Ohio on
five counts of illegally exporting defense articles to South Korea. According to the indictment,
on Nov. 4, 2005, the defendants caused to be exported five infrared focal plan array detectors and
infrared camera engines, which are classified as defense articles on the U.S. munitions list, from
the United States to South Korea without the required State Department license. As part of the
same investigation, on Jan. 20, 2011, Kue Sang Chun, a former longtime employee at the NASA
Glenn Research Center in Ohio and resident of Avon Lake, Ohio, pleaded guilty in the Northern
District of Ohio to one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and one count of filing
false tax returns. Chun was sentenced on Nov. 10, 2011 to 14 months in prison. Chun was
charged in a criminal information on Jan. 10, 2011. According to court documents, while working
as an electrical engineer for NASA, Chun also operated a business out of his home through which
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