For
Immediate Release: November
12, 2003 Contact - BIS Public Affairs 202-482-2721 |
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that Omega Engineering Inc.
(“Omega”), of Stamford, Connecticut, will pay $187,000 in civil
penalties to settle charges that it illegally exported laboratory equipment
to Pakistan. In addition, Omega and its Vice President, Ralph Michel, will
have their export privileges to Pakistan denied for five years.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) charged that Omega exported certain laboratory equipment to Pakistan in 1997, although the Commerce Department had denied a license for the same shipments earlier that year.
On April 29, 2003, in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Connecticut, Omega and Michel pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations on related charges. The U.S. District Court sentenced Michel to 10 months of confinement, followed by three years of supervised probation, and fined him $50,000 in penalties. The U.S. District Court fined Omega $313,000 in penalties, placed the company on corporate probation for five years, and ordered the company to implement an export compliance program.
Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Julie L. Myers commended Special
Agent Edward Hayden of BIS’s Boston Field Office, and the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in New Haven, Connecticut for their
roles in the investigation of the case.