News & Updates

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Thomas Harris Jr., 29, of Croydon, PA, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, and three years of supervised release for multiple firearms trafficking offenses stemming from his scheme to sell almost 40 guns to a buyer on the island of St. Lucia.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Thomas Harris Jr., 29, of Croydon, PA, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, and three years of supervised release for multiple firearms trafficking offenses stemming from his scheme to sell almost 40 guns to a buyer on the island of St. Lucia.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Commerce Department, through its Bureau of Industry
and Security (BIS), responded to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine by implementing a
sweeping series of stringent export controls that will severely restrict Russia’s access to
technologies and other items that it needs to sustain its aggressive military capabilities. These
controls primarily target Russia’s defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors and will cut off
Russia’s access to vital technological inputs, atrophy key sectors of its industrial base, and

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III today sentenced Jorge Orencel, age 65, of Silver Spring, Maryland, to six months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for federal charges of attempting to smuggle goods out of the United States without the required export license. Judge Russell also ordered Orencel, who owned and operated Sumtech, an export business located in Fulton, Maryland, to pay a $5,000 fine.

Defendant Previously Charged with Illegally Exporting Weapons Parts to Iraq

A Pennsylvania man was arrested yesterday on charges alleging that he tortured a victim in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015.

A superseding indictment returned Tuesday in the Middle District of Pennsylvania charges Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, with suffocating a victim with a belt, threatening to cut off one of the victim’s fingers and directing Kurdish soldiers to inflict other severe physical and mental pain and suffering on the victim.

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security
(BIS) added 33 parties based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the Unverified List
(UVL).

Opening Remarks by Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea Kendler to the 2022 Massachusetts Export Expo

As prepared for delivery

Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be with you today, at least virtually. I want to thank Paula
Murphy and the team at the Massachusetts Export Center for the invitation. They have been great
to work with. This is my first presentation as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export
Administration. In this role, I lead the Export Administration arm of the Bureau of Industry and
Security (BIS).

Defendants Attempted to Procure High-Powered Microwave System for Iran
A U.K. man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia to violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. At the same time, an indictment was unsealed charging four individuals with the same offense, as well as related offenses.

Two Florida residents were sentenced yesterday for conspiring to and illegally attempting to export controlled items to Libya.

Peter Sotis, 57, of Delray Beach, and Emilie Voissem of Sunrise, were convicted in October 2021 following a one-week jury trial in Miami. Sotis was sentenced to 57 months in prison, and Voissem was sentenced to a split sentence of five months in prison and five months of home confinement.