Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and his associates Natalia Bardakova and Olga Shriki were charged with conspiring to violate the U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska and one of his corporations, Basic Element Limited, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Shriki also was charged with obstruction of justice relating to her alleged deletion of electronic records that pertained to her participation in the sanctions evasion scheme. Charges also were levied against Ekaterina Voronina, Deripaska's girlfriend, for making false statements to government officials during her attempted entry into the U.S. to give birth to Deripaska's child.

Ghacham, a Paramount, California-based clothing wholesale company, agreed to plead guilty to criminally undervaluing imported garments in a scheme to skirt nearly $6.4 million in customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced Sept. 20. The scheme was also meant to hide the company's business with a woman in Mexico who has ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Peter Kisang Kim, a former engineer at Broadcom, was sentenced to eight months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Broadcom, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Sept. 20. A Ben Lomond, California, resident, Kim in May pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing trade secrets to help his new company's business prospects. Fifteen other counts of trade secrets theft were dismissed in connection with his sentencing. Following his incarceration, Kim will serve a three-year supervised release term.

Brazilian airline GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will pay over $41 million to settle criminal and civil investigations by DOJ, SEC and Brazilian authorities on bribery charges, DOJ announced in a Sept. 15 news release. DOJ and the airline entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement over charges that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the airline agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $17 million.

Instec Inc., a scientific instrument technology company based in Colorado, and Dr. Zhong Zou, its owner and president, agreed to pay $625,000 to settle allegations that the company and Zou violated the False Claims Act, DOJ announced. Instec and Zou failed to comply with the requirements of the Buy American Act when selling scientific instruments claimed to have been made in the U.S. to U.S. federal agencies and national laboratories, DOJ said.

Cary Yan and Gina Zhou, two Marshall Islands nationals charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arrived in the U.S. Sept. 2 after being extradited from Thailand, the DOJ announced Sept. 2. The pair is charged with violating the FCPA, money laundering and conspiracy in a scheme to bribe elected officials in the Marshall Islands to get certain legislation passed. The August 2020 five-count indictment charged Yan and Zhou with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and one count of committing international money laundering.

Juan Jose Roque, a Mexican national illegally living in Garland, Texas, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for illicitly exporting firearms from the U.S. to Mexico, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced Aug. 29. Roque pleaded guilty in April, and is expected to face removal proceedings after his imprisonment given that he is not a U.S. citizen, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Over $1.2 million in forfeited funds from an international tax fraud and money laundering scheme for fuel imported into Romania will be sent back to the Romanian government, DOJ announced. The funds came from the sale of property located in Washington state that was owned by a Romanian couple who were extradited to Romania, the Aug. 26 news release said.

Rixon Rafael Moreno Oropeza, a Venezuelan national and businessman, was charged with making bribe payments and money laundering in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. Per the indictment returned to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Moreno laundered the money made from inflated procurement contracts that were received by making bribes to senior executives at Petropiar -- a joint venture of Venezuela's state-owned energy company and an American oil company.

Jose Manuel Perez, a resident of Oxnard, California, pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 to illegally importing over 1,700 wild animals, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said. The illegally smuggled animals include over 60 reptiles that were found hidden in his clothes at the U.S.-Mexico border. Perez pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the U.S. and one count of wildlife trafficking.