Financial asset managers Ralph Steinmann of Switzerland and Luis Fernando Vuteff of Argentina have been charged with money laundering in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scheme involving Venezuela's state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVS), the DOJ announced. Steinmann and Vuteff face up to 20 years in prison for their role in a $1.2 billion international scheme. According to court documents, the two conspired with others in a bribery scheme using the U.S. financial system and international bank accounts from 2014 to 2018. Steinmann, Vuteff and others allegedly agreed to create a laundering mechanism to launder $200 million from the scheme and to open bank accounts on behalf of two Venezuelan public officials to receive the bribe payments, the DOJ said.

A laboratory equipment distributor based in New Hampshire pleaded guilty to failing to file export information on shipments to Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire announced July 11. From 2015 to 2019, Intertech Trading shipped lab equipment to these countries and elsewhere, falsifying commercial invoices and shipping forms. Intertech admitted that the information was fake and that it used false descriptions such as "lamp for aquarium" and "spares for welding system," as opposed to identifying the scientific equipment in the shipments.

Onur Aksoy, the CEO of multiple companies and a Miami resident, was indicted July 7 on charges of running a trafficking operation that imported fraudulent and counterfeit Cisco networking equipment worth over $1 billion, DOJ announced July 8. Aksoy ran at least 19 companies formed in New Jersey and Florida along with 15 Amazon storefronts, more than 10 eBay storefronts and various other entities that imported the counterfeit devices from China and Hong Kong, reselling them in the U.S. and abroad, falsely claiming that the goods were new. The scheme raked in over $100 million in revenue, DOJ said.

Delta Airlines agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by falsely reporting information on the transfer of U.S. mail to foreign posts or other recipients under contracts with the U.S. Postal Service, DOJ announced June 30. Delta entered into contracts with USPS to take possession of U.S. mail receptacles at six locations either in the U.S. or at various locations of the departments of State and Defense around the world, then deliver the mail to various international and domestic spots, DOJ said.

Kambiz Attar Kashani, a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export U.S. goods, technology and services to end users in Iran, including to the Iranian government, DOJ announced June 28. Kashani used two United Arab Emirates companies to evade U.S. export laws between 2019 and 2021 by buying electronic goods, technology and services from U.S. companies without getting licenses from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ said. Kashani took orders from the Central Bank of Iran -- a designated entity, as it provides support to known terrorist organizations, the U.S. said. The defendant faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, and he already has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine in addition to any owed forfeiture.

A $325 million superyacht allegedly owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and seized by U.S. authorities in Fiji has docked in San Diego after a legal battle in the Asia-Pacific island, Bloomberg reported June 28. The Amadea arrived in San Diego June 27 after a few days in Honolulu. The U.S. hired a new crew in Fiji to sail the ship, leaving the island June 7.

Marlon Moody, a former employee at cargo handling company Alliance Ground International, was sentenced to one year in prison for stealing four gold bars that were being shipped from Australia to New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. In April 2020, employees of Alliance, which provides ground handling services at Los Angeles International Airport, were tasked with offloading and securing a shipment of gold bars that were stopping in L.A. en route to New York. The shipment -- a collection of 2,000 gold bars each valued at around $56,000 --- arrived via Singapore Airlines at the direction of a Canadian bank.

Angel Del Villar and Luca Scalisi, two California music business executives, were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced June 14. The two face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

Joe Sery, former owner and CEO of Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List to China, India and other countries without first getting a license from the State Department, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced June 9. Sery's actions violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulation, and he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Federal Maritime Commission this week approved a $2 million settlement agreement with Hapag-Lloyd for alleged shipping violations involving the company’s detention and demurrage practices. Hapag-Lloyd also agreed to take several steps to improve its billing practices, including posting an updated tariff policy to its website, conducting a “training session” on the FMC’s detention and demurrage rule for all employees involved in billing, and publishing on its website a “complete list of locations that it has authorized to accept empty Hapag-Lloyd containers.”