An indictment was unsealed today charging two Chinese nationals, Han Li, also known as Anson Li, 44, and Lin Chen, 64, with crimes related to a conspiracy to illegally export U.S. technology, including a machine manufactured by a California-based company that is used to process silicon wafer microchips, to prohibited end users in China, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Chen was arrested in Chicago yesterday.
"As alleged, the defendants sought to evade export controls to obtain U.S. semiconductor manufacturing technology for a prohibited Chinese company," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
"The export restrictions at issue in this case were put in place to prevent the illicit procurement of commodities and technologies for unauthorized military end use in the People’s Republic of China," said U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey for the Northern District of California.
"This indictment puts an end to Ms. Chen’s alleged involvement in a scheme to illegally export U.S. technology to China," said Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch.
Federal regulations restrict the export of certain items to companies, research institutions, and other entities identified on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List. In August 2014, the Commerce Department added Changdu GaStone Technology Company (CGTC), a company based in China, to the Entity List.
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security are investigating the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.