Seattle Area Company and Its Owner Sentenced for Exporting ITAR-Controlled Technical Data to Taiwan Related to U.S. Navy Contracts
The U.S. Department of Justice announced this week that a Seattle area printed circuit board (PCB) company and its owner were sentenced for violating the Arms Export Control Act and for wire fraud for exporting ITAR-controlled technical data to Taiwan without the required State Department license.
Precision Image Corporation (PIC) was fined $300,000 for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the company's owner, Mr. Chi-Kwan Hwa was sentenced for wire fraud to four months in prison and six months of home detention as part of his two years of supervised release.
According to the Justice Department, PIC obtained contracts worth $180,034 to supply PCBs to the U.S. Navy. The contract required the PCBs to be produced in the U.S. In addition, the Navy supplied PIC with ITAR-controlled technical data that contained the technical specifications for the PCBs. The Justice Department claimed that Mr. Hwa was aware that the ITAR-controlled technical data could not be exported without a license issued by the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) but sent the controlled technical data to a manufacturer in Taiwan without the required license. The Taiwan-produced PCBs were later supplied to the Navy and Mr. Hwa claimed that the PCBs were made in the U.S.
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