Florida Woman Pleads Guilty to Exporting Controlled Military Tech

Florida resident Yuksel Senbol pleaded guilty on May 8 to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, violating ECRA and violating the Arms Export Control Act, among other crimes, for her role in fraudulently procuring contracts to supply the Defense Department with "critical military components," DOJ announced.

Starting in April 2019, Senbol operated Florida-based front company Mason Engineering Parts to help her Turkish co-conspirators, Mehmet Ozcan and Onur Simsek, procure the military components, which were used in various weapons systems. Senbol and the co-conspirators lied to the government and military contractors that the Florida company "was a vetted and qualified manufacturer of military components," when the parts were actually being made in Turkey.

Senbol helped Ozcan and Simsek obtain the export-controlled drawings of "critical U.S. military technology" by using software that let Ozcan remotely control her computer. This allowed Ozcan to "evade security restrictions that limited access to these sensitive military drawings to computers within the United States," meaning Senbol "knowingly facilitated the illegal export of these drawings," DOJ said.

After the parts were made, they were shipped to Senbol, who repackaged them, then shipped them to the military, DOJ said. She then laundered the proceeds back to Turkey.

Senbol faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence for each count of conspiracy to violate ECRA, violating ECRA and violating the Arms Export Control Act, among other sentences. Ozcan and Simsek remain at large.