“On March 23, 2017, I signed an Order approving the terms of the Settlement Agreement entered into in early March 2017, between the Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce (‘BIS’) and Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation, of Shenzhen, China (‘ZTE Corporation’) and ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. of Hi-New Shenzhen, China (‘ZTE Kangxun’) (collectively, ‘ZTE’), hereinafter the ‘March 23, 2017 Order.’ Under the terms of the settlement, ZTE agreed to a record-high combined civil and criminal penalty of $1.19 billion, after engaging in a multi-year conspiracy to violate the U.S. trade embargo against Iran to obtain contracts to supply, build, operate, and maintain telecommunications networks in Iran using U.S.-origin equipment, and also illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to North Korea in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR parts 730-774 (2017)) (‘EAR’ or the ‘Regulations’). ZTE also admitted to engaging in an elaborate scheme to hide the unlicensed transactions from the U.S. Government, by deleting, destroying, removing, or sanitizing materials and information.”
83 FR 17644-48
Published 04-23-2018
