Four Owners and Operators of NJ Company Admit to Illegally Exporting Products to China
The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey today announced that four owner and operators of Manten Electronics, Inc. of Mount Laurel, NJ pleaded guilty to charges that they used their business to illegally transfer sensitive national-security controlled items to state-sponsored research institutes in China.
Manten Electronics, Inc.'s president Xu Weibo, a/k/a "Kevin Xu," 38, purchasing agent Xiu Ling Chen, a/k/a "Linda Chen," 34, (wife of Kevin Xu), vice president Hao Li Chen, a/k/a "Ali Chan," 29, (brother of Linda Chen) and company controller Kwan Chun Chan, a/k/a "Jenny Chan," 29, (wife of Ali Chan), all entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr., in federal court in Newark. All four defendants are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Xu Weibo pleaded guilty to a three-count Information charging one count of conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Act and the Arms Export Control Act, and one count each of violating the Export Administration Act and the Arms Export Control Act. Xiu Ling Chen, Hao Li Chen, and Kwan Chun Chan each pleaded guilty to one-count Informations charging conspiracy to violate United States export laws, namely the Export Administration Act and the Arms Export Control Act. The sentencing proceedings are scheduled for February 6, 2006.
The defendants also agreed as part of their plea agreements to forfeit $391,337, which represents their revenue from the illegal exports.
The four defendants were arrested on July 1, 2004, on a Criminal Complaint that resulted from an investigation that began in January 2003 by a multi-agency task force consisting of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The defendants pleaded guilty to illegally exporting items, including monlithic microwave integrated circuits, that are used in a wide variety of defense weapons systems, including radar, smart weapons, electronic warfare and communications. According to the Informations that the defendants pleaded guilty to, the illegal exports were destined for entities controlled by the Chinese government. Among those entities was a Chinese Research Institute that the United States government has identified as posing an unacceptable risk in the development of weapons of mass destruction or missiles used to deliver weapons of mass destruction.
At their plea hearings, the defendants admitted that they used various techniques to conceal their export activities, such as providing false written and verbal statements that purported that the recipient of the restricted items was a United States corporation rather than a government entity of the People's Republic of China, and falsifying shipping documents to conceal the true contents of their shipments to China.
The export violations carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The count of conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Act and the Arms Export Control Act, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Associated Press reports that the case involving Manten Electronics Inc. is the latest, but far from the largest, to deal with illegal technology and arms exports to China and that since January 2000, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched more than 400 investigations into illegal technology and arms exports to China.
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