BOSTON, MA—Three nationals of the People’s Republic of China were arrested and charged Friday in U.S. District Court with conspiring to file, and causing others to file, false export control documents in violation of Executive Order 13222, Export Administration Regulations, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Complaint charges that from not later than July 9, 2005 and continuing through in or about December 2008, three current officers and employees of Chitron Electronics, Inc. (“CHITRON-US”), a Massachusetts corporation, filed and caused the filing of Shipper’s Export Declarations with the U.S. government which falsely identified the end users and ultimate destination of U.S. origin goods that CHITRON-US shipped overseas.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, John McKenna, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Commerce - Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office, Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Investigations in Boston, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division and Tyrone G. Barney, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office announced today that ZHENZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU, YUFENG WEI a/k/a ANNIE WEI and BO LI a/k/a ERIC LEE were charged in a Complaint with willfully and knowingly violating Executive Order 13222 and the Export Administration Regulations in that they did unlawfully conspire, combine, confederate, and agree with each other and others to file, and cause the filing of, false export control documents, including Shipper’s Export Declarations. In addition, ZHEN ZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU is charged with filing false tax returns and making materially false statements in Chitron-US’ corporate income tax returns for tax years 2002-2007.

The Complaint alleges that Chitron-US was a wholly-owned and controlled subsidiary of Chitron Electronics Company Limited a/k/a Shenzhen Chi-Chuang Electronics, a Chinese company based in Shenzhen, China (“Chitron-CHINA”). The Complaint further alleges that Chitron-China had several offices in China, including one in Hong Kong. According to the Compliant, the Hong Kong office was merely a transshipment point or shipping office; it was set up to act as a freight forwarder—to receive shipments from Chitron-US and re-ship or transship them to Mainland China thereby circumventing U.S. export laws and license requirements. The Complaint alleges that Chitron-US filed hundreds of false Shipper’s Export Declarations and the defendants engaged in concerted and coordinated effort to file and cause the filing of these false documents. It is alleged that these Shipper’s Export Declarations falsely identified Hong Kong freight forwarders and Chitron’s Hong Kong office as the ultimate consignee or end-user and the country of ultimate destination as Hong Kong when in fact the ultimate end users of the U.S. origin products shipped by Chitron-US were located in Mainland China.

If convicted on these charges, each defendant faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy charge, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine. ZHEN ZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU faces an additional three years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine for filing tax returns and an additional five years imprisonment and $250,000 for making false statements.

The case is being investigated agents of the Department of Commerce - Office of Export Enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann and John Capin of Sullivan’s Anti-Terrorism and National Security Section.

The details contained in the Complaint are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.