United States Arrests Turkish National For Exporting Defense Data to Turkey
Michael Balestra, Special Agent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, submitted a 16-page sworn affidavit on June 21 to Judge Jennifer Boal against Arif Ugur, a Turkish national, requesting that an arrest warrant be issued. Ugur was accused of:
Conspiring to export defense technical data from the United
States to Turkey without an export license;
Exporting technical data from the United States to Turkey
without an export license;
Committing wire fraud by devising a scheme of fraudulently
obtaining contracts from the Department of Defense (DOD).
Ugur is a 52-year-old Turkish national who lived in
Massachusetts intermittently since 2002. He became a Permanent Resident of the
United States in 2005.
According to the affidavit, Ugur founded in 2015 the
Anatolia Group Limited Partnership in Massachusetts, described as a domestic
manufacturer and supplier of specialty machinery and parts to DOD. He was the
sole partner.
The Affidavit claimed that “between July 2015 and September 2017, Ugur acquired dozens of contracts to supply DOD entities with various parts and hardware items used by the U.S. military. Many of these contracts required that the parts be ‘domestic end product,’ manufactured in the United States. In order to obtain these contracts, Ugur falsely represented to DOD that Anatolia would manufacture the parts at facilities in the United States.
In fact, Anatolia had no manufacturing capabilities whatsoever and many of the
parts that Anatolia supplied to DOD and its affiliates were manufactured
overseas, including at least one manufacturer in Turkey. Some of these parts
were substandard and, therefore, could not be used for their intended military
purpose.”
Ugur provided the manufacturer in Turkey “with technical
specifications and drawings of the parts, which he obtained from the Defense
Logistics Agency (DLA).” Several of the drawings and specifications required an
export license which Ugur failed to obtain, prior to exporting them to Turkey.
He registered his company with the DLA which granted him access to DOD bids
after he agreed in writing to comply with the strict legal requirements — not
disclosing, sharing or providing foreign entities access to defense technical
data, according to the affidavit.
On August 13, 2015, DLA provided Ugur access to technical
specifications, drawings and other information concerning active DLA
solicitations. That same day via email, Ugur notified three Turkish nationals
on how to access the DLA ‘Collaboration Folders’ through the internet,
including its library of ‘military critical technical data,’ the affidavit
alleged.
Special Agent Balestra wrote in the affidavit: “In an email dated on or about July 27, 2016, a DLA purchasing agent asked Ugur to verify the ‘address of the actual manufacturing’ of Bracket Assemblies for the purpose of arranging an origin inspection…. In an email dated on or about July 28, 2016, Ugur told the contracting agent that the Bracket Assemblies were being manufactured by Anatolia at 90 Woodmont Road in Milford, Connecticut.
I believe this statement was false, as Ugur knew that the Bracket Assemblies were being manufactured by the Turkish Manufacturer in Turkey. Ugur subsequently caused the Bracket Assemblies to be delivered to DOD in late August 2016 without allowing DLA to first inspect the parts at the place of manufacture. I believe that Ugur intentionally avoided the origin inspection in order to conceal from DLA the true place of manufacture: Turkey.
Upon receiving the Bracket
Assemblies, DOD determined that they failed to meet contractual specifications.
DOD declined to pay Ugur and Anatolia for the Brackets, and they attempted
(unsuccessfully) to return the parts to Ugur.”
A similar violation allegedly took place when DLA awarded
Anatolia a contract to manufacture Groove Pulleys. On August 23, 2016, Ugur
emailed the technical data related to the Groove Pulleys to Individual D, an
employee of AYPIK located in Turkey, according to Balestra’s sworn affidavit.
DOD determined that the Groove Pulleys failed to meet the contractual
specifications.
Arif Ugur was arrested on June 22, 2021 and charged in
federal court in Boston with one count of wire fraud, one count of violating
the Arms Export Control Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms
Export Control Act, stated in a press release the United States Attorney’s
Office, District of Massachusetts.
“The charge of violating the Arms Export Control Act provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million, or twice the gross gain or loss of the offense. The charge of conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
The charge of wire fraud provides
for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release
and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss of the offense,”
according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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