From the Court - US: Wire fraud and illegally exporting defense articles to Turkey

A Turkish national was charged in federal court in Boston in connection with fraudulently having various parts and machine components for the United States military made by a Turkish manufacturer in violation of arms regulations.

In May 2015, the 52 years old man founded and was the sole managing partner of a domestic limited partnership registered in Massachusetts. Beginning in July 2015, he bid on and acquired numerous contracts to supply the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) with a variety of machine parts and hardware items intended for use by the United States military. Many of these contracts required that the parts be manufactured in the United States. In his initial bids and in subsequent email communications with DOD representatives, it is alleged that he falsely claimed that his company was manufacturing the parts in the United States. In fact, they had no manufacturing facilities in the United States or elsewhere. Instead, he allegedly contracted with a Turkish manufacturer to make the parts and then passed them off to DOD as if they had been manufactured by Anatolia in the United States.

It is further alleged that he shared technical specifications and drawings of various DOD parts and components with employees of the Turkish manufacturer so that they could produce the required parts. He also allegedly provided employees of the Turkish manufacturer and other Turkish nationals with access to DOD’s online library of technical specifications and drawings. Many of the parts were designated as defense articles under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the United States Munitions List (USML). Thus, an export license was required to export the parts and related technical data (drawings, specifications, etc.) from the United States to Turkey.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice Press Release (22 Jun 2021)