Kunlin Hsieh, a Taiwanese national and sales manager for Junbon Enterprises Co. Ltd. in Taiwan, pleaded guilty in June 2015 to conspiring to ship U.S.-origin dual-use electronic parts from the United States to Iran, via Taiwan. He was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison.
Hsieh admitted to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR). Between October 2007 and August 2014, Hsieh participated in a conspiracy to obtain controlled items from U.S. companies without disclosing the intended end-users in Iran. The goods included U.S.-origin laminates, microwave pyramidal absorbers, and multi-line pass filter networks. The potential applications for these items include missile guidance systems, secure tactical radio communications, and military radar networks.
As part of the conspiracy, Hsieh procured items on behalf of Mehrdad Foomanie, whose companies in Iran included Sazgan Ertebat Co. Ltd. and Moravid Sanant Co. Ltd. Foomanie and one of Hsieh’s other co-conspirators, Susan Yip, were previously indicted in June 2011 for their involvement in a conspiracy to ship thousands of U.S.-origin military and dual-use parts from the United States to Iran, via Dubai and Taiwan.
Hsieh was indicted along with another Junbon employee, Agris Indricevs, who was also charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR). Court documents related to Indricevs, a Latvian citizen, remain sealed, so it is unknown whether a plea agreement with him was also reached. A third Junbon employee, Ryan Surrena, was separately indicted in September 2013. Surrena is a U.S. citizen who worked in international sales at the company. In November 2015, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR). Surrena was sentenced to 5 years probation.
Sources:
[1] Indictment, United States of America v. Kunlin Hsieh, Case No. SA-14-CR-641(1)FB, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, filed on August 13, 2014, available via PACER, accessed on February 25, 2016.
[2] “Taiwanese National Pleads Guilty to Violating U.S. Sanctions on Exportation of Goods to Iran,” Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, June 25, 2015, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/taiwanese-national-pleads-guilty-violating-us-sanctions-exportation-goods-iran, accessed on February 25, 2016.
[3] Judgment in a Criminal Case, United States of America v. Kunlin Hsieh, Case No. SA-14-CR-641(1)FB, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, filed on October 5, 2015, pp. 1-2, available via PACER, accessed on October 13, 2015.
[4] Indictment, United States of America v. Susan Yip, Mehrdad Foomanie, and Mehrdad Ansari, Case Number 5:11-cr-00516-XR, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, June 15, 2011, available via PACER, accessed on November 5, 2012.
[5] Judgment and Order, United States of America v. Ryan D. Surrena, Case No. 5:13-CR-00730-FB(1), U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, filed on November 20, 2015, available via PACER, accessed on February 26, 2016.