Two Chinese exporters plead guilty to illegal export charges
Two Chinese exporters pleaded guilty in a federal court in Green Bay, Wis., to criminal charges last week for conspiring to illegally export restricted electronic components to China without a U.S. license.
Jian Guo Qu, owner of the Beijing Rich Linscience Electronic Co. in China, is scheduled for sentencing on July 25, and could face up to four years in prison. Ruo Ling Wang, also of Beijing Rich Linscience, was sentenced to time served (six and half months) and a $1,500 fine.
Qu and Wang were among four defendants arrested by federal authorities on Sept. 30, 2004, in Milwaukee and Manitowoc, Wis. The two other defendants arrested were Ning Wen and his wife Hailin Lin. They are scheduled for a federal court hearing in Green Bay on Sept. 14.
A criminal complaint filed against the four defendants in September 2004 alleged that since at least 2001 Wen and Lin used a business called Wen Enterprises, which they operated from their home in Manitowoc, to ship restricted parts to Qu and Wang.
The complaint alleged that for most of these transactions, Lin obtained the restricted technology from a U.S. manufacturer or supplier based upon a request from Wen or Qu; falsified shipping documents by concealing the true nature of the shipments and stating that a license was not required for the shipments at the direction of Qu; and then shipped the product to Wang or Qu in China, without receiving or even applying for an export license from the Commerce Department.
The complaint also alleged that the China National Packaging Base Construction Co. or an individual in Hong Kong wire transferred money to a Wisconsin bank account of Wen Enterprises to pay for the shipments. The complaint further alleged that Wen was once a Chinese citizen employed at the Chinese consulates in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In addition, the complaint alleged that Wen served as an FBI informant in the 1990s and during some of that time during the illegal export scheme.
Wen and Lin each face up to 25 years in prison and substantial fines if convicted of these charges at trial, the Commerce Department said.