Press Release
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO SIXTY (60) MONTHS ON ARMS EXPORT CONTROL ACT CONSPIRACY
May 15, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement ("OEE"), and Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), Office of Investigations, announced that defendant Joseph Piquet was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez on May 14, 2009, to sixty (60) months in prison, to be followed by two (2) years of supervised release. Piquet was convicted in March 2009 after a four-day trial on all seven counts charged (Case No. 08-14031-Cr-Martinez/Lynch).
More specifically, Piquet was convicted of seven separate counts arising from a conspiracy to purchase high-tech military use electronic components from a domestic corporation, and to then ship the items to Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China without first obtaining required export licenses under the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Among the items involved in the export conspiracy were high power amplifiers designed for use by the U.S. military in early warning radar and missile target acquisition systems, and low noise amplifiers that have both commercial and military use.
The testimony at trial showed that on five separate occasions, from March 2004 through February 2005, Piquet bought the restricted electronic components and submitted false End Use Certificates to the manufacturer to conceal the intended final destination of the parts, which he then forwarded through conspirators in Texas and Hong Kong.
Mr. Acosta commended the collaborative investigative work of OEE, ICE's Office of Investigations in West Palm Beach, and the Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice. Acosta also commended Northrop Grumman Corporation for its outstanding cooperation throughout the investigation and prosecution of this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore Cooperstein and Diana Acosta.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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