RTX, Part II: The Compliance Reforms

RTX

Today we continue our look at that RTX Corp. export controls settlement announced last week, since we barely scratched the surface of the remediation measures RTX agreed to undertake. From dedicated compliance leaders to dedicated compliance spending, there’s lots more to review here. If you missed our previous post on the case, the summary is…

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RTX Settles Huge Export Controls Mess

rtx

Anyone looking for a complicated case-study in export controls compliance, turn your eyes to RTX Corp. The defense contracting giant just agreed to pay $200 million and overhaul its export compliance function, to settle charges that the company improperly sent classified defense goods to foreign countries and allowed employees to bring along sensitive information while…

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Seagate Fined $300M on Sanctions Failures

Seagate

Some strong tea today for export control professionals: U.S. authorities have fined Seagate Technology Corp. $300 million for selling computer hardware to Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, even after Huawei came under severe U.S. export control restrictions in 2020. The fine, announced by the Bureau of Industry and Security on Wednesday, is the largest that…

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Russia’s New Export Control Challenges

export

Of all the corporate responses so far from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one that looks heartening is the idea of companies “self-sanctioning” their products against Russia. Look closer, however, and there’s a lot more going on here that compliance officers need to consider.  By now you’ve probably seen early glimpses of self-sanctioning. Two examples are…

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SAP, Part II: The Gritty Compliance Details

sanctions

Today we return to that enforcement action imposed on business software giant SAP, which last week settled charges that it had violated U.S. export control law in the 2010s by offering software patches, upgrades and cloud-based services to users in Iran. Our first post on the case was more a summary of the overall facts,…

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SAP Nailed on Sanctions Violations

SAP

Software firm SAP is paying $13.1 million to settle charges that the company and its business partners violated U.S. sanctions law in the 2010s by offering software patches and upgrades to users in Iran and allowing Iranian customers access to SAP’s cloud-based technology services.  The settlement was announced Thursday by the U.S. Justice Department, along…

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Report Flags Higher Ed, Deemed-Export Issues

Government auditors released a report Tuesday flagging several weaknesses in “deemed export” compliance at colleges and universities, although the report also chided the Defense Department, FBI, and other security agencies for not doing enough to help higher education understand its deemed-export duties.  The Government Accountability Office released a review of the export compliance programs at…

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FAQs on ZTE’s Compliance Settlement

zte

The Commerce Department published its revised settlement with ZTE Corp. on Monday, giving us much more detail on this bizarro arrangement of U.S. regulators appointing an in-house compliance executive to the troubled Chinese telecom firm. The concept is intriguing, and the job could be the professional challenge of a lifetime — except for all those…

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Trump Admin Whacks Telco Firm for $892 Million

zte

Compliance officers wondering whether the Trump Administration would still enforce egregious corporate misconduct with big fines, here’s one answer: the administration today whacked a Chinese telecom firm with nearly $900 million in fines and penalties for export control violations. The firm is ZTE Corp., which pleaded guilty to re-exporting sensitive communications technology to Iran without…

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