Chinese National Pleads Guilty After Trying to Illegally Export US Military Boats, Engines to China

A Chinese man pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export “maritime raiding craft” and engines to China, the Justice Department said Nov. 2. Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Ltd. Chairman Ge Songtao also pleaded guilty to submitting false export information to the U.S. government. Ge faces a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

Ge and three others were arrested on charges related to the illegal exports in November 2019 (see 1911040022 and 2009170004). To import the U.S.-origin raiding craft and engines, the Justice Department said, Ge and others convinced a U.S. manufacturer that the products would be sent to United Vision Limited in Hong Kong rather than Ge’s Shanghai-based company. To further disguise his company’s involvement, Ge used another Hong Kong company -- Belt Consulting Company Limited -- to wire more than $110,000 to the U.S. manufacturer. Ge planned to send an employee to Hong Kong to receive the products and ship them to mainland China.