Tennessee Company Pleads Guilty to Violating Arms Export Control Act
Atmospheric Glow Technologies Inc. (AGT), a privately-held atmospheric plasma technology company located in Knoxville, Tennesee, pleaded guilty yesterday to ten counts of unlawfully exporting in 2005 and 2006 ten different "defense articles" to a citizen of the People's Republic of China in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.
The illegal exports by AGT charged in the indictment related to technical data and test results relating to a U.S. Air Force research contract associated with the development of an unmanned flight vehicle munitions system.
AGT admitted to unlawfully exporting to a Chinese national technical information concerning the test results of this research project. The Chinese national was a research assistant to former University of Tennessee electrical engineering professor Dr. J. Reece Roth who was working on the project with AGT. Dr. Roth, one of AGT's founders, was also indicted by the Justice Department but pleaded not guilty. Dr. Roth's trial is expected to commence next week.
Another former AGT employee, Daniel Sherman, pleaded guilty in April to charges of conspiring with Roth to export the data to China.
When the company is sentenced in December, AGT faces a maximum penalty for each offense of a $1,000,000 fine, a maximum term of five years of probation and a mandatory special assessment of $400.
Labels: Export Controls, ITAR
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