FLORIDA
A 53-year-old woman illegally obtained systems and components for marine submersible vehicles from U.S. companies while working with co-conspirators for Harbin Engineering University, which is a state-owned entity in China, officials announced today.
Amin Yu, of Orlando, Florida, was named in an 18-count indictment that was unsealed today charging her with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government in the United States; conspiring to defraud the United States and to commit offenses against the United States; committing unlawful export information activities; smuggling goods from the United States; conspiring to and committing international money laundering and making false statements to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, officials said.
If convicted, Yu faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the money laundering counts. She faces up to 10 years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and up to five years in prison on all other counts. The indictment also seeks to have Yu forfeit about $2.6 million, the alleged traceable proceeds of the offenses.
Click here to read the entire indictment: U.S. Department of Justice
The indictment alleges that these crimes were committed from at least 2002 to about February 2014, officials said.
Yu proceeded to illegally export the systems and components to China for use by her co-conspirators in the development of marine submersible vehicles – unmanned underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles – for HEU and other state-controlled entities.
Yu is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.