Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Export Controlled Technology

Eddy Johan Coopmans, a Ponte Vedra, Florida, resident, pleaded guilty Oct. 4 to conspiring to illegally export controlled technology out of the U.S. in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas announced. The technology included space grade field programmable gate array circuits meant for Russia and China. Cooper, along with an unnamed foreign national, communicated with individuals the pair believed would help them smuggle the technology, then paid them around $1.2 million and made false statements to government regulators, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Oct. 5. Coopmans was indicted in 2019 and faces up to five years in federal prison.