New, Outlier Sentencing in Case Involving Export Crimes with Tax and FBAR Problems (11/3/13)

According to an FBI press release, here:

Qiang “John” Wu, 47, of Dublin, Ohio has been sentenced to six months in prison, followed by three years under court supervision, for making a materially false statement relative to the exportation of laser technology to the People’s Republic of China. Wu was also ordered to pay approximately $282,000 in fines and fees, as well as to pay back taxes due for several years. 

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According to court documents, the investigation identified seven shipments Wu sent to China through his business, known as Adv-Tech International LLC, between October 17, 2007 and August 31, 2010. Wu knowingly failed to disclose the true end-user on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Shippers Export Declaration (SED). The items exported, including laser equipment, are considered dual-use technologies with both military and civilian applications. 

The investigation revealed two of the true end-users in China as state-owned institutions involved in laser and optical research with military applications. Wu was found to have knowingly filed inaccurate export declarations to deter scrutiny of these shipments by U.S. authorities. Wu is a citizen of China and a legal permanent resident of the United States. 

Wu failed to report to the IRS a significant portion of the proceeds of these transactions, some of which were deposited into a U.S. bank account and some of which were diverted to accounts held by Wu in the People’s Republic of China. As a result, Wu has been ordered to file amended tax returns for the tax years 2006 through 2011 and pay any additional taxes due. A civil Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) penalty of $100,000 was also ordered for failing to report money Wu held in foreign bank accounts.

This appears to be an outlier case driven by crimes other than the tax and FBAR crimes.  I will incorporate the information in the spreadsheet tomorrow.

It is not clear from the press release that he was actually convicted of income tax or FBAR crimes.  An earlier report of his guilty plea mentions the income tax and FBAR problems and states that they are discussed in the plea agreement, but also is inconclusive as to whether there was a plea for these tax related crimes.  I infer from the combination of the statements that he did not plea to tax or FBAR crimes, but did agree that the Court could order him to cooperate with the IRS and file the required amended and delinquent FBARs.