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Chinese National Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Attempting to Export Raiding Craft and Engines to China
A Chinese national has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to submit false export information and to export maritime raiding craft and engines to China fraudulently. Ge Songtao, 51, of Nanjing, People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty on Nov. 2, 2020, to two charges related to the attempted export of the equipment.
According to court documents, Ge was the chairman of Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Ltd., a company headquartered in Shanghai, China. He began looking for a source of supply of U.S.-manufactured combat rubber raiding craft equipped with multi-fuel engines in 2018. These vessels and engines are used by the U.S. military and can be operated after being launched from a submerged submarine or dropped into the ocean by an aircraft. No comparable engine is manufactured in China.
Ge’s U.S.-based employee, Yang Yang, attempted to order seven of the raiding craft equipped with these engines from a U.S. manufacturer. However, Yang falsely represented that her customer was an entity called United Vision Limited in Hong Kong, rather than Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. in Shanghai. This caused the entry of false information in the Department of Commerce’s Automated Export System in violation of federal law.
To facilitate the purchase of the raiding craft and engines, Ge arranged for wire transfers to a separate company in Hong Kong, Belt Consulting Company Limited, which wired $114,834.27 to the U.S. manufacturer. He also coordinated plans to send an employee to Hong Kong to receive the raiding craft and engines and transship them to mainland China. The plot failed and authorities arrested Ge and his co-defendants before the equipment was shipped overseas.
Ge’s co-defendants, Yang Yang and Zheng Yan, have also been sentenced for their roles in the attempted export of the raiding craft and engines. Yang was sentenced to approximately 14 months’ imprisonment, while Zheng was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment and 11 months’ home-detention.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Department of Commerce – Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Controls Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Coolican of the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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