U.S. Indicts Two Chinese Citizens For Trying to Obtain Military Microchips

Two Chinese nationals were indicted and accused of attempting to obtain radiation-hardened microchips used in the military and aerospace industries in violation of an embargo.

Hong Wei Xian, also known as Harry Zan, 32, and Li Li, also known as Lea Li, 33, were charged by a U.S. grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, with conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act and to smuggle goods from the U.S., and the attempted export of munitions in violation of the act, according to a statement today from the U.S. Justice Department.

“Neither Xian nor Li applied for nor received a license from the United States to export defense articles of any description,” according to the statement.

Xian is president and Li is vice president of Beijing Starcreates Space Science & Technology Development Co., which imports and sells programmable read-only memory microchips to China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp., according to the statement. The latter company is controlled by the government of China, according to the statement.

The two were arrested in Hungary in September and transferred to the custody of U.S. marshals on April 1, according to the statement. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum five-year prison term and the export violation carries a penalty of as long as 20 years in prison, the U.S. said.

Lawyers for Xian and Li couldn’t immediately be reached. They were scheduled to appear today in federal court in Alexandria.

The U.S. has had an embargo against China since 1990 prohibiting the export of defense articles to the country, according to the statement.

The case is U.S. v. Xian, 10-cr-00207, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria).

To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in Brooklyn, New York, federal court at tweidlich@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/u-s-indicts-two-for-attempting-to-export-military-microchips-to-china.html


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