Rudolf L. Cheung, Military Antenna Export Conspiracy, Massachusetts 2023

Rudolf L. Cheung, 57, a resident of Massachusetts, has been convicted of conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act in connection with the unlawful export of 55 military antennae from the United States to Singapore and Hong Kong.

According to court documents, Cheung, who serves as the head of the Research & Development Department at a private company that manufactures antennae, designed or supervised the development of a full library of antennae over the past 17 years. Many of these antennae have military applications and are used by defense contractors, with some being used in the U.S. space program.

In June 2006, a company in Singapore sent an inquiry to Cheung’s firm seeking a quotation for two types of antennae that are classified by the U.S. government as defense articles and may not be exported without a license or approval from the State Department. After receiving the query, the export compliance officer at Cheung’s firm advised the firm in Singapore that neither antenna could be exported unless they filled out a U.S. government form attesting that the goods would not be transferred.

However, Cheung admitted that he discussed with an individual outside his company (co-conspirator C) a plan to bypass the export controls at his company and arrange for the antennae to be exported to Singapore through co-conspirator C. Co-conspirator C, who operated his own company in Massachusetts, would purchase these goods from Cheung’s company and then export them on his own to the firm in Singapore, with Cheung’s knowledge.

Between July and September 2007, co-conspirator C purchased 55 military antennae from Cheung’s company, which he then exported to Corezing addresses in both Singapore and Hong Kong. Cheung was aware that the purchases by co-conspirator C were intended for export from the United States and that these exports had previously been blocked by his export compliance manager. Yet Cheung took no action to stop the sale of these antennae from his company or their subsequent export from the United States, even though he knew a license was required for such exports.

Cheung faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and a 3-year term of supervised release at sentencing. Corezing, based in Singapore, has been charged in a separate indictment in the District of Columbia in connection with the export of these particular military antennae to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Corezing and its principals have also been charged, and the United States is seeking their extradition, in connection with the export of 6,000 radio frequency modules from the United States to Iran via Singapore, some of which were later found in improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

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