The U.S. government says a Florida woman accused of illegally exporting maritime combat assault boats to China has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by submitting false export information to the federal government’s automated export system.
The federal Justice Department said Sept. 16 that Yang Yang, 34, of Jacksonville, Florida, was charged with conspiring to violate U.S. law by submitting false export information to the federal government’s Automated Exports System, fraudulently exporting maritime combat assault craft and engines to China, and attempting to fraudulently export such equipment to China. Yang has pleaded guilty to these charges.
Citing the plea agreement, the Justice Department said Yang was an employee of Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. At the direction of her co-conspirators in China, she attempted to order seven maritime combat rubber assault boats from a U.S. manufacturer with engines that could run on gasoline, diesel and aviation kerosene.
The DOJ noted that such multi-fuel-engine rubber assault boats are currently used by the U.S. military, either for launch from submarines or for airdrop from aircraft at sea. China currently cannot produce similar engines. The U.S. manufacturer had suggested to Yang Yang that he purchase a relatively inexpensive gasoline-engine assault craft, but Yang insisted that he wanted to purchase a military assault craft that could run on multiple fuels.
The DOJ said that in order to entice the manufacturer to sell the military assault boats, Yang Yang falsely stated that her customer was United Vision Limited of Hong Kong, because Yang’s Chinese colleagues said the U.S. manufacturer was more likely to sell the products to entities in Hong Kong. Yang Yang also entered this false information into the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Automated Exports System, violating federal regulations.
The DOJ said that when federal agents interviewed Yang Yang on Oct. 17, 2019, Yang admitted that her customer was only Shanghai Light Wind Technology Co. and that she learned from a conversation with a co-conspirator that the Marine Assault Craft was purchased for a customer in mainland China, not for Hong Kong. Yang’s co-conspirator, Zheng Yan, also pleaded guilty to the charges on August 13, 2020, and the trial of the remaining co-conspirators, Fan Yang and Ge Songtao, is scheduled to take place on February 1, 2021.
The DOJ said Yang Yang faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, and no date has yet been set for the announcement of the sentencing decision.
According to previous media reports, U.S. Navy Captain Yang Fan and his wife Yang Yang were arrested in Jacksonville last October on suspicion of leaking secrets and engaging in illegal activities.
Yang Fan, 35, was born in China, immigrated to the United States in 1999, became a U.S. citizen in 2006, and was working at the Naval Patrol and Reconnaissance Weapons School at Naval Air Station Jacksonville at the time of his arrest.
According to reports, Ge Songtao, a Chinese citizen on a temporary visa, was in charge of Shanghai Light Wind Technology Co. The two were also arrested last October.
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