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February 13, 2010
- Balli Aviation Ltd., a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based Balli
Group PLC, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Under the plea agreement, Balli Aviation Ltd. agreed to pay a $2 million criminal fine and be placed on corporate probation for five years. The $2 million fine, combined with a related $15 million civil settlement among Balli Group PLC, Balli Aviation Ltd., the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), that was also announced, represents one of the largest fines for an export violation in BIS history. |
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Under the terms of the related civil settlement, Balli Group PLC and
Balli Aviation Ltd. have agreed to pay a civil penalty of $15 million of
which $2 million will be suspended if there are no further export
control violations. In addition, Balli Aviation Ltd. and Balli Group PLC
are denied export privileges for five years, although this penalty will
be suspended provided that neither Balli Aviation nor Balli Group
commits any export violations and pays the civil penalty.
Under the terms of the settlement, Balli Group PLC and Balli
Aviation, Ltd. will also have to submit the results of an independent
audit of its export compliance program to BIS and OFAC for each of the
next five years. According to count one of the information filed with the court, beginning in at least October 2005, through October 2008, Balli Aviation Ltd. conspired to export three Boeing 747 aircraft from the United States to Iran without first having obtained the required export license from BIS or authorization from OFAC, in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the Iranian Transactions Regulations.
More particularly, the information states that Balli Aviation Ltd.,
through its subsidiaries, the Blue Sky Companies, purchased U.S.-origin
aircraft with financing obtained from an Iranian airline and caused
these aircraft to be exported to |
Count two of the
information states that Balli Aviation Ltd. violated a Temporary Denial
Order (TDO) issued by BIS on March 17, 2008, that prohibited the company
from conducting any transaction involving any item subject to the EAR.
Starting in or about March 2008 and continuing through about August
2008, Balli Aviation Ltd. willfully violated the TDO by carrying on
negotiations with others concerning buying, receiving, using, selling
and delivering U.S.-origin aircraft which went to the Export
Administration Regulations.
"As this case
demonstrates corporations that conduct business with
"These charges
reflect the commitment of the
"The significant
fine is a direct consequence of the level of deception used to mislead
investigators," said Thomas Madigan, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Commerce for Export Enforcement. "The case agents worked through a
complex corporate maze to obtain the facts and bring the violators to
justice."
"This case should
serve as further warning of |
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