BIS has charged Ning Wen with 124 violations of the EAR. Wen created Wen Enterprises, a business run out of his home to aid in illegal exports of 3A001 and 3A002 electronic components to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Wen was fined $1,364,000 but this entire amount will be waived as long as Wen doesn’t commit any violations in the next year. The good news for Ning Wen, No. 07511-089, Federal Prison Camp-H Dorm, P.O. Box 1000, Duluth, MN 55814, is that it is relatively difficult (but not impossible) to violate the EAR while in prison.
He and his co-conspirators (known and unknown, but not named in the BIS order) falsified values on shipping invoices which allowed their Shipper’s Export Declarations (SED) to go unidentified as needing a license by the US government.
Wen’s charges broken down:
Charge 1: Conspiracy to export electronic components without a license
Charges 2-56: Causing an export without a license
Charges 57-111: Acting with knowledge of a violation
Charges 112-124: Taking action with intent to evade the EAR
Wen was charged with causing 55 illegal exports to the PRC and in addition was charged with 55 violations of acting with knowledge because he was well aware that a license was required. In a sense Wen’s violations were causing the violations his company committed, so both he and his company were nailed once each for the violations—plus Wen was convicted on criminal charges which landed him in prison. On top of that, he and his company have been added to the denial list for 15 years.
Federal Register: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/e9-31367.htm
