ZTE Enters Guilty Plea in Case Involving Dual-Use Telecom Shipments to Iran

ZTE formally pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act through illegally shipping U.S.-origin items to Iran, obstruction of justice and making a material false statement, DOJ announced. The Chinese multinational company agreed to plead guilty to the alleged violations, pay $430.5 million in fines and criminal forfeitures, and to serve three years of corporate probation, during which an independent compliance monitor will review and report on ZTE’s export compliance program, the department had announced earlier this month (see 1703070042). Justice cited plea documents that showed ZTE either directly or indirectly through a third party shipped about $32 million worth of dual-use U.S.-origin wireless and wireline infrastructure hardware to customers in Iran between January 2010 and January 2016.