Where Industry and Security Intersect
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY |
| Friday, July 1st, 2011 |
Office of Public Affairs |
| www.bis.doc.gov | 202-482-2721 |
WASHINGTON –The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) today announced that Mohammed El-Gamal, also known as Moe Zayed El-Gamal, President and CEO of Applied Technology Inc. (ATI), located in Kenansville, NC, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $340,000 to settle allegations that he committed four violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) related to the export of controlled networking equipment to Libya without the required export licenses.
“The defendant’s actions in this case to subvert the export licensing process and mislead the investigation will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement David W. Mills. “I commend the Special Agents from our Washington Field Office for their outstanding work on this investigation.”
BIS alleged that on three occasions during June and July 2006 El-Gamal sent networking equipment, controlled for Anti-Terrorism reasons, to the General Electric Company of Libya, without the required Department of Commerce licenses. In connection with one of these shipments, agents searched an ATI employee flying from Detroit, MI, to Libya and found three computer cards hidden in his carry-on luggage. In addition, BIS alleged that El-Gamal made false or misleading statements to agents in the course of the investigation.
On February 14, 2011, El-Gamal pleaded guilty in the District Court for District of Columbia, to one count of Material False Statements. On May 16, 2011, he was sentenced by United States District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to pay a fine of $5,000, to perform 100 hours of community service, and to serve two years supervised Probation. The judge also ordered El-Gamal to provide monthly reports to the Department of Commerce regarding his export activities during the probationary period.
To settle the administrative case, El-Gamal agreed to conduct a compliance audit of ATI covering the first year of exports following the settlement, put in place a compliance program, attend BIS export compliance training, and complete an audit for past exports.
BACKGROUND
BIS controls exports and reexports of dual-use commodities, technology, and software for reasons of national security, missile technology, nuclear non-proliferation, chemical and biological weapons non-proliferation, crime control, regional stability, foreign policy and anti-terrorism. Criminal penalties and administrative sanctions can be imposed for violations of the EAR. For more information, please visit www.bis.doc.gov.
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