Company Agrees to Plead Guilty Over Evasion of Sanctions on North Korea

A British Virgin Islands company agreed to plead guilty to charges related to the evasion of sanctions on North Korea, the Department of Justice said in an Aug. 31 news release. The company, Yang Ban Corporation, admitted it “deceived banks in the U.S. into processing transactions for North Korean customers,” using “financial cutouts and front companies,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said. In addition to the guilty plea, Yang Ban will pay a penalty of more than $673,000, which includes a fine of about $112,000.

The illegal activities began as early as February 2017 and continued until May 2018, DOJ said. During that period, Yang Ban conducted $561,428.39 worth of transactions, it said. “Evasion of the United States sanctions laws allows North Korea to continue its dangerous and persistent proliferation activities and to develop weapons of mass destruction,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for National Security. “This defendant utilized dual invoicing practices and provided false statements to conceal the ultimate destination of commodities it purchased for North Korea.”

The company admitted to conspiring with SINSMS, which was sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2018, DOJ said. “These companies worked together to facilitate illicit shipments to North Korea using falsified shipping documents, including exports of alcohol, tobacco, and cigarette-related products,” DOJ said in the statement of offense filed with the court.

The scheme involved “front companies registered in Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, and elsewhere, when making payments,” DOJ said. In May 2017, Yang Ban was discussing companies that would ship to North Korea and learned of one that “would require two separate sets of shipping documents,” DOJ said. “One set of documents would be free of any indication that the shipment was going to North Korea, and a second set of documents would contain the North Korea details.”

Yang Ban also “agreed to implement rigorous internal controls and to cooperate fully with the Justice Department, including by reporting any criminal conduct by an employee,” DOJ said.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the statement of offense and plea agreement.