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

Government of Yemen, and received instructions and acted on behalf of the Armed Forces
Department of the Republic of Yemen. Ali admitted that he took official actions on behalf of the
Yemeni Government and that, among other things, he issued documents in 2002 ordering the
arrest of a person upon his return to Yemen. Ali also admitted that in 2003 he had conspired with
another person to cause various defense articles to be exported to Yemen without a license,
including bullet proof vests and chemical protective suits. Finally, Ali admitted in his plea
agreement that in late 2005 and early 2006, he negotiated with an undercover FBI agent to obtain
and ship to Yemen materials that he believed were stolen U.S. military equipment, including
night vision goggles, satellite telephones and laptop computers. The investigation was conducted
by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, including FBI and ICE.
Assault Weapons to Mexico – On Jan. 5, 2011, Jesus Quintanilla was sentenced in the Southern
District of Texas to 37 months in prison for straw purchasing 13 firearms. He was arrested in July
2010 and pleaded guilty in October 2010. After ATF agents saw Quintanilla attempt to purchase
an AK-47 type weapon, agents approached him and he admitted to agents that he had previously
purchased nine AK-47 type weapons and four pistils for another person who was reportedly
associated with a Mexican drug cartel. The investigation was conducted by the ATF.
Weapons and Ammunition to Nigeria – On Jan. 3, 2011, Emenike Charles Nwankwoala, of
Laurel, Md., was sentenced in the District of Maryland to 37 months in prison followed by two
years supervised release in connection with a scheme to export guns, including shotguns and
pistols, and ammunition to Nigeria. According to the charges, Nwankwoala illegally shipped
weapons and ammunition to Nigeria for a decade, while employed as a state probation officer.
He concealed the weapons and ammunition in shipping containers and lied about the contents and
destination of these items. The investigation was conducted by ICE, ATF, and BIS.
Arms Exports to Russia – On Dec. 13, 2010, in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Sergey
Korznikov, a Russian citizen, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with
conspiracy to smuggle military articles from the United States to Russia. Korznikov was later
sentenced to 6 months in prison and two years supervised release on July 21, 2011. On July 29,
2010, Korznikov’s co-defendant Mark Komoroski was sentenced to 32 months in prison and
ordered to pay $10,000 after pleading guilty to conspiring to smuggle military equipment to
Russia. Komoroski, of Nanticoke, Pa.; Korznikov, of Moscow, and two companies, D&R Sports
Center and Tactica Limited, were charged in a 2008 superseding indictment with conspiring to
smuggle military equipment, including rifle scopes, magazines for firearms, face shields, and
other military equipment from the United States to Russian to be resold to unknown persons. The
government later dismissed the charges against the corporate defendants, D&R Sports Center and
Tactica Limited. The case was investigated by ICE, IRS, ATF, U.S. Postal Service, Department
of Commerce and DCIS.
Valspar Trade Secrets to China – On Dec. 8, 2010, David Yen Lee, a former chemist for Valspar
Corporation, a Chicago paint manufacturing company, was sentenced in the Northern District of
Illinois to 15 months in prison for stealing trade secrets involving numerous formulas and other
proprietary information valued up to $20 million as he prepared to go to work for a competitor in
China. Lee, formerly a technical director in Valspar Corp’s architectural coatings group since
2006, pleaded guilty in Sept. 2010 to using his access to Valspar’s secure internal computer
network to download approximately 160 original batch tickets, or secret formulas for paints and
coatings. Lee also obtained raw materials information, chemical formulas and calculations, sales
and cost data, and other internal memoranda, product research, marketing data, and other
materials from Valspar. Lee admitted that between September 2008 and February 2009, he had
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