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(WASHINGTON)-- Immunostics Inc., an Ocean, New Jersey, manufacturer and distributor of medical test equipment including microbiological, serological and immunological reagents, pleaded guilty last Friday in U.S. District Court, Newark, to providing fraudulent export documents to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Customs Service, Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement F. Amanda DeBusk announced.
The plea was entered by Kenneth Kupits, Immunostics' president and chief executive officer, on behalf of the corporation, before District Judge William G. Bassler. Sentencing has not yet occurred and the parties have entered into a plea agreement which provides that the Assistant U.S. Attorney will recommend to the sentencing court that a fine of $48,000 be imposed on Immunostics, and that Immunostics will not oppose such a fine.
According to court documents, Immunostics made false and misleading statements to the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Custom Service via a fraudulent Shipper's Export Declaration (SED). The SED falsely represented that an attached commercial invoice was true and accurate when, in fact, Immunostics had knowingly and willfully understated the price that it had charged its foreign customer for the shipment.
Today's guilty plea is the result of a two-year investigation by Commerce's Office of Export Enforcement New York Field Office and the U.S. Customs Service, Newark, NJ. The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case.
The Department of Commerce, through its Bureau of Export Administration, administers and enforces export controls for reasons of national security, foreign policy, nonproliferation and short supply. Criminal penalties, as well as administrative sanctions, can be imposed for violations of the Regulations.
In April of 2002 the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) changed its name to the Bureau of Industry and Security(BIS). For historical purposes we have not changed the references to BXA in the legacy documents found in the Archived Press and Public Information.