Glenn Oztemel of Westport, Connecticut, and Eduardo Innecco, a dual Brazilian and Italian citizen, were charged in an indictment unsealed in the District of Connecticut on Feb. 17 in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scheme, DOJ announced. The duo allegedly violated the FCPA and committed money laundering as part of a scheme to pay bribes to Brazilian officials to obtain contracts from the Brazilian state-owned energy company Petroleo Brasileiro-Petrobras, DOJ said.

The U.S. is "sharing" around $954,807 with the Nigerian government pursuant to an agreement between the countries over repatriating assets the U.S. forfeited that were traceable to the former governor of the Nigerian state of Bayelsa, DOJ announced. The action stems from the work of the Kleptopcracy Asset Recovery Initiative, under which U.S. law enforcement looks to "recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption."

Two U.S. citizens, Christian Sanon and Frederick Bergmann, were charged with "conspiracy to commit export violations; submitting false and misleading export information; and smuggling ballistic vests from the United States to Haiti," DOJ said. The charges were announced Feb. 14 as part of a larger indictment against individuals involved in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

Kambiz Attar Kashani, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, was sentenced Feb. 9 to 30 months in prison for "conspiring to illegally export U.S. goods and technology to users in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, in violation of the International Economic Powers Act," DOJ announced. The Central Bank of Iran has supported designated terrorist organizations, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to the U.S. government.

Washington state-based auto broker BidBuy Auctions settled a customs fraud case with DOJ, agreeing to pay $430,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington announced. The qui tam case saw a former BidBuy employee allege the auto broker lied to CBP about the value of imported vehicles to pay less in duties. As a result of the settlement, the former employee-turned-whistleblower will get 23%, or $98,900, of the $430,000 payment.

The U.S. settled a civil suit against global trading and investment firm Samsung C&T America -- a subsidiary of Korean conglomerate Samsung C&T Corp. -- over charges SCTA violated the False Claims Act by misclassifying footwear imports to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The importer will pay $1 million to the U.S. and make admissions over its conduct, specifically that it misclassified its imports on entry documents filed with CBP and underpaid custom duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Vladimir Voronchenko, a Russian citizen and legal permanent resident of the U.S., was charged with participating in a scheme to net over $4 million to maintain four properties in the U.S. owned by sanctioned oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, DOJ announced. Voronchenko also tried to sell two of the properties.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York opened and settled a case with vitamin and nutritional supplement importer International Vitamins Corp. (IVC) over the company's misclassification of its products to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Jan. 30. IVC will pay $22.87 million to the U.S. and admit to its conduct. The government joined its lawsuit with a whistleblower action filed under seal pursuant to the False Claims Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Importer High Life and the U.S. settled a False Claims Act case in which the company was charged with knowingly underreporting the value of apparel entries, leading it to avoid duty payments. According to a stipulation and order of settlement filed Jan. 25 at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, High Life will pay the government $1.3 million, $650,000 of which counts as restitution. The company agreed to fully cooperate with the U.S. investigation of the other individuals and entities linked to the customs fraud scheme (United States v. High Life, S.D.N.Y. # 23-00631).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Mun Chol Myong, a North Korean national, to time served of 45 months in prison for money laundering offenses, DOJ announced. Mun is the first North Korean national to be extradited to the U.S., and he will be subject to deportation after the completion of his sentence, DOJ said.