Director of Singapore Firm Sentenced for Illegally Exporting Controlled Aircraft Components to Iran

Director of Singapore Firm Sentenced for Illegally Exporting Controlled
Aircraft Components to Iran

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Laura Wang-Woodford, a U.S.
citizen who served as a director of Monarch Aviation Pte Ltd., a Singapore
company that imported and exported military and commercial aircraft components
for more than 20 years, was sentenced today in federal court in Brooklyn to 46
months in prison for conspiring to violate the U.S. trade embargo by exporting
controlled aircraft components to Iran. Wang-Woodford was also ordered to
forfeit $500,000 to the U.S. Treasury Department.

The sentencing was announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for
National Security; Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of New York; Kevin Delli-Colli, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Export Enforcement; and John T. Morton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland
Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Wang-Woodford was arrested on Dec. 23, 2007, at San Francisco International
Airport after arriving on a flight from Hong Kong, and has remained
incarcerated since then. She and her husband, Brian D. Woodford, a U.K.
citizen who served as chairman and managing director of Monarch, were
originally charged in a 20-count indictment returned in the Eastern District
of New York on Jan. 15, 2003. Brian Woodford remains a fugitive. A superseding
indictment charging Wang-Woodford with operating Jungda International Pte
Ltd., a Singapore-based successor to Monarch, was returned on May 22, 2008.

According to the superseding indictment, between January 1998 and December
2007, the defendants exported controlled U.S. aircraft parts from the United
States to Monarch and Jungda in Singapore and Malaysia and then re-exported
those items to companies in Tehran, Iran, without obtaining the required U.S.
government licenses. As part of the charged conspiracy, the defendants falsely
listed Monarch and Jungda as the ultimate recipients of the parts on export
documents filed with the U.S. government. The aircraft parts illegally
exported to Iran include aircraft shields, shears, "o" rings and switch
assemblies. The superseding indictment further charged that the defendants
arranged for the illegal export of U.S. military aircraft components, designed
for use in Chinook military helicopters, to Monarch in Singapore.

At the time of her arrest in San Francisco, Wang-Woodford possessed catalogues
from a Chinese company, the China National Precision Machinery Import and
Export Corporation (CPMIEC), containing advertisements for military technology
and weaponry. The products advertised included surface-to-air missile systems
and rocket launchers. CPMIEC has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury
Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control, based, in part, on CPMIEC's
history of selling military hardware to Iran. All U.S. persons and entities
are prohibited from engaging in business with CPMIEC.

"As today's sentence demonstrates, those who export restricted American
technology in violation of our laws will be held accountable for their
actions. Keeping sensitive U.S. technology from falling into the wrong hands
is a top priority for the Justice Department," said Assistant Attorney General
Kris.

"We are committed to protect the American public from the national security
threat posed by those who would personally profit from the illegal export of
U.S. military technology," said U.S. Attorney Campbell. Mr. Campbell thanked
the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE), the agencies responsible for conducting the government's investigation.

"Shutting down diverters like Monarch Aviation to protect our national
security is our top priority, said Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Export Enforcement Delli-Colli. "This case illustrates a successful,
coordinated effort to stop the illegal shipment of controlled aircraft parts
to Iran."

"The illegal sale of military parts is not only a threat to our national
security, but to U.S. soldiers and allies," said Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Morton.

The government's case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel S.
Silver, Cristina M. Posa and Claire Kedeshian.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, +1-202-514-2007, TDD
+1-202-514-1888