Where Industry and Security Intersect
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Washington, D.C. - United States Attorney Wilma A. Lewis, U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement F. Amanda DeBusk, and United States Customs Service Assistant Commissioner Bonnie Tischler, Office of Investigations, jointly announced that A & C International Trade, Inc., 350 5th Ave., New York, New York, and Yufeng Wang, age 36, also known as Alan Wang, a Chinese National currently living in Ft. Lee, NJ, and the president of A & C International Trade, Inc., entered pleas of guilty today before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to violating U.S. export control laws and making a false statement related to the shipment of a 60-ton riot control vehicle equipped with a pressurized pepper gas dispensing system to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in late November of 1995.
A & C International Trade, Inc., entered a plea of guilty to an Information charging it with a felony violation of 22 U.S. Code § 2778 for the November 30, 1995 export, without a license as required by law, of a police riot control vehicle equipped with a pressurized pepper gas system to the People’s Republic of China, and defendant WANG entered a plea of guilty to a separate count of the Information charging him with a misdemeanor violation of 26 U.S. Code §7207, for the filing of a false document with the United States Customs Service and the Secretary of the Treasury in connection with the export of the police riot control vehicle.
Based on the violation of 22 U.S.C. § 2778, A & C International Trade, Inc., is subject to a fine of not more than $1,000,000, possible probation of five years and a mandatory special assessment of $100, while defendant Wang, based on a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7207, is subject to a fine of up to $100,000, and imprisonment of not more than one year, or both, and a mandatory special assessment of $25. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 26, 2000.
The vehicle, sold by Moore Custom Trucks of Hernando, MS, was sold under the name of MCT Blueshield Riot Control Vehicle. It contained a pressurized system capable of spraying tear and pepper gas from the truck in several directions and would have required a State Department license for shipment to the PRC.
U.S. Attorney Lewis noted that "these unlawful transactions constitute serious violations of export control laws designed to further the security and foreign policy of the United States."
The Department of Commerce, through its Bureau of Export Administration, and the United States Customs Service administer and enforce 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.
"This case illustrates our strong commitment to the enforcement of our nation’s export control laws," said Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement F. Amanda Debusk.
In announcing the guilty pleas, U.S. Attorney Lewis, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Debusk, and Assistant Commissioner Tischler commended the cooperative effort of the United States Attorney’s Office, the Department of Commerce of Export Enforcement and the U.S. Customs Service, Office of Investigations, in handling this investigation. They also commended the efforts of the Commerce Department’s Boston Office of Export Enforcement and the U.S. Customs Services which originally investigated the case. Commended also was the work of Assistant United States Attorney Joseph B. Valder and Mariclaire Rourke, Trial Attorney, Internal Security Section, U.S. Department of Justice, who jointly prosecuted the case, and Department of Commerce Bureau of Export Administration Special Agent David Poole and United States Customs Service Special Agent John M. Kennedy who investigated the case.
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.