Shuren Qin, a Chinese national living in Massachusetts, plead guilty on Wednesday at a federal court in Boston for illegally exporting $100,000 worth of American goods to Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU), a United States Department of Justice (DOJ) release said.
NWPU is a Chinese military university that works closely with the People’s Liberation Army and is involved in military research, according to a release from the DOJ.
Qin conducted his illegal exports through his company LinkOcean Technologies, LTD., which imported goods and technologies with underwater and marine applications, according to the DOJ.
Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Illegal Exports to Northwestern Polytechnical Universityhttps://t.co/bJfz3fPhdk
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) April 28, 2021
After NWPU ordered Qin to get a hold of items used for anti-submarine warfare, the Chinese national caused at least 60 hydrophones for detecting and monitoring underwater sound to be exported from the United States to NWPU without getting the required permits from the United States Department of Commerce. In connection with his illegal export of hydrophones, Qin laundered money by transferring more than $100,000 from Chinese bank accounts to accounts in the U.S., intending to facilitate his illegal exports, according to the DOJ. (RELATED: Chinese National Gets Time Served After Stealing Vials From American Hospital Related To Cancer Research)
Qin plead guilty to four counts of money laundering, two counts of smuggling hydrophones, two counts of making false statements to law enforcement agents, one count of visa fraud, and one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export items from the U.S. to NWPU without the required licenses.
Qin’s false statements to law enforcement regarded the materials he exported, according to the DOJ. In 2017 he told Customs and Border Protection that he was only exporting instruments that attach to a buoy, when he was actually exporting goods with military applications to military end-users in China. In 2018, Qin said he didn’t have any customers on the DOC’s Entity List when in fact he had two, NWPU and the National University of Defense Technology.