Fuyi Sun, Attempting to Illegally Export High-Grade Carbon Fiber, New York 2016

Fuyi Sun, a 53-year-old citizen of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally export high-grade carbon fiber to China without a license.

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint and the Indictment filed against Sun, since approximately 2011, he has attempted to acquire extremely high-grade carbon fiber, including Toray type M60JB-3000-50B carbon fiber, which has applications in aerospace technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly known as drones) and other government defense applications.

M60 Carbon Fiber is strictly controlled, including that it requires a license for export to China, for nuclear non-proliferation and anti-terrorism reasons.

In furtherance of his attempts to illegally export M60 Carbon Fiber from the U.S. to China without a license, Sun contacted what he believed was a distributor of carbon fiber – but which was, in fact, an undercover entity created by HSI and “staffed” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) undercover special agents.

Sun inquired about purchasing the M60 Carbon Fiber without the required license, and repeatedly suggested various security measures that he believed would protect them from “U.S. intelligence.” Among other such measures, he instructed the undercover agents to use the term “banana” instead of “carbon fiber” in their communications.

On April 11, 2016, Sun traveled from China to New York for the purpose of purchasing M60 Carbon Fiber from the undercover agents. During meetings with the undercover agents, Sun repeatedly suggested that the Chinese military was the ultimate end-user for the M60 Carbon Fiber he sought to acquire.

Fuyi Sun, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in connection with a scheme to illegally export to China, without a license, high-grade carbon fiber, which is used primarily in aerospace and military applications.

The plea was entered before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. Sun faces up to 20 years in prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced on a date to be determined.

Fuyi Sun, aka “Frank,” is set to be sentenced for his crimes, in which he attempted to skirt U.S. export laws by hiding his purchase of high-grade carbon fiber for the Chinese military. Sun used fraudulent documents and code words in his efforts to obtain this highly protected material, which is used in aerospace and defense programs, and to avoid detection.