The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:
Yuksel
Senbol, 36, of Orlando, pleaded guilty to 25 felony counts in Florida federal
court, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit
wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering,
seven counts of money laundering, conspiracy to violate the Export Control
Reform Act (ECRA), four counts of violating the ECRA, and one count of
violating the Arms Export Control Act.
According to court documents, beginning in approximately April
2019, Senbol operated a front company in the Middle District of Florida called
Mason Engineering Parts LLC. She used this front company to assist her
co-conspirators, Mehmet Ozcan and Onur Simsek, to fraudulently procure
contracts to supply critical military components to the Department of Defense.
These components were intended for use in the U.S. Navy Nimitz and Ford Class
Aircraft Carriers, U.S. Navy Submarines, U.S. Marine Corps Armored Vehicles,
and U.S. Army M-60 Series Tank and Abrahams Battle Tanks, among other weapons
systems.
To fraudulently procure the government contracts, Senbol and her
co-conspirators falsely represented to the U.S. government and to U.S. military
contractors that Mason Engineering Parts LLC was a vetted and qualified
manufacturer of military components, when in fact, the parts were being
manufactured by Ozcan and Simsek in Turkey. And, as Senbol knew, Simsek’s
involvement had to be concealed from the U.S. government because he had been
debarred from contracting with the U.S. government after being convicted of a
nearly identical scheme in the Southern District of Florida.
In order to enable Ozcan and Simsek to manufacture the
components in Turkey, Senbol assisted them in obtaining sensitive,
export-controlled drawings of critical U.S. military technology. Using software
that allowed Ozcan to remotely control her computer – and thus evade security
restrictions that limited access to these sensitive military drawings to
computers within the United States – Senbol knowingly facilitated the illegal
export of these drawings. She did so despite having executed numerous agreements
promising to safeguard the drawings from unlawful access or export, and despite
the clear warnings on the face of each drawing that it could not be exported
without obtaining a license.
Once Ozcan and Simsek manufactured the components in Turkey,
they shipped them to Senbol, who repackaged them – making sure to remove any
reference to their Turkish origin. The conspirators then lied about the origin
of the parts to the U.S. government and a U.S. government contractor to receive
payment for the parts. Senbol then laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars
in criminal proceeds back to Turkey through international wire transfers.
This scheme continued until uncovered and disrupted by federal
investigators. Parts supplied by Senbol were tested by the U.S. military and
were determined not to conform with product specifications. Many of the
components supplied to the U.S. military by Senbol were “critical application
items,” meaning that failure of these components would have potentially
rendered the end system inoperable.
Senbol faces up to 10 years in prison for the conspiracy to
defraud the United States offense and for each count of money laundering. She
faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit wire
fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate
the ECRA, violating the ECRA and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6. Alleged co-conspirators Mehmet Ozcan and
Onur Simsek are fugitives.
This case was investigated by the FBI; General Services
Administration, Office of Inspector General; Defense Criminal Investigative
Service; Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security; Air Force
Office of Special Investigations; Homeland Security Investigations; and
Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel J. Marcet and Lindsey Schmidt for the Middle District of Florida, and Trial Attorney Stephen Marzen of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
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