US company pleads guilty in scheme to violate the export control act!
Chemicals manufactured or distributed in Rhode Island were earmarked to be exported to a company with ties to the Chinese military
Tao Jiang, the president and owner of Broad Tech System, Inc., a California-based electronics distribution company, today admitted to a federal judge in Providence that he and his company participated in a conspiracy to conceal information from the U.S. Department of Commerce and from U.S. Customs and Border Protection as part of a scheme to illegally export chemicals manufactured and/or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a technology company in China with ties to the Chinese military, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Jiang and Broad Tech System admitted that they conspired together and with Bohr Winn-Shih, an engineer employed at Broad Tech System, to order the chemicals Photoresist and HPRD (Developer) from a North Kingstown-based manufacturer, then knowingly submitted false and misleading documentation to the U.S. Government and to shipping companies in an effort to have those products illegally shipped to a company in China, in violation of the Export Control Reform Act.
The intended recipient of the shipment, a state-owned Chinese entity in Nanjing, China, mainly engages in the manufacturing of electronic components and the research, development and production of core chips and key components in China’s military strategic early warning systems, air defense systems, airborne fire control systems, manned space systems, and other national large-scale projects. Photoresist and HPRD are essential to the chip manufacturing process.
Read the full release from the US Department of Justice here