California Company Settles Charges of Unauthorized Exports to
Iran, Israel, People’s Republic of China, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that Wilden Pump and Engineering Co., LLC (Wilden), a company based in Grand Terrace, California, will pay a $700,000 civil penalty to settle administrative charges that it violated the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) in connection with unauthorized exports of diaphragm pumps from the United States to the Iran, Israel, People’s Republic of China, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates without the required Department of Commerce export licenses.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) charged that, between 2000 and 2003, Wilden committed 71 violations of the EAR. Specifically, BIS found that Wilden committed 26 violations by exporting diaphragm pumps without the required licenses. In connection with 22 of the exports, Wilden violated the EAR by transferring diaphragm pumps with knowledge that violations of the EAR would occur. BIS also charged that Wilden committed 23 violations of the EAR by making false statements on export control documents.

The size of the penalty assessed to Wilden is due to the significant number of violations, many of them with knowledge that the shipments were destined to an embargoed country. The diaphragm pumps exported by Wilden are subject to Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations and the Department of the Treasury’s Iranian Transaction Regulations. The majority of the pumps that were exported are controlled for export and re-export due to concerns that they could be used in chemical and biological weapons proliferation.

"This investigation demonstrates the Commerce Department’s commitment to vigorously pursue those who knowingly violate U.S. export control law," said Wendy L. Wysong, Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement.

Wilden also agreed to be subject to a three-year denial of export privileges for items on the Department’s Commerce Control List. The denial will be suspended for two years provided that Wilden does not commit any violations of the EAR during the suspension period.

Acting Assistant Secretary Wysong commended the Special Agents of BIS’s Office of Export Enforcement, Los Angeles Field Office, for their work on this investigation.