Shenghua Wen, a 42-year-old illegal alien from China, has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to illegally export military-grade items to North Korea, according to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement.
Wen, who got approximately $2 million from North Korean officials, initially met them in a Chinese embassy before entering the United States on a student visa in 2012.
He overstayed his visa after it expired the next year and established a covert organization that trafficked weaponry and ammunition from North America to the Korean Peninsula through multiple layers of deception.
Wen pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and one count of working as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson has now sentenced him on those charges.
The case was probed by several government agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, and revealed Wen’s sophisticated operations. He had obtained technology such as a handheld broadband receiver capable of detecting transmissions and a thermal imaging device suitable for reconnaissance, which he subsequently diverted into illicit trade. Prosecutors—Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Gerdes and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal—presented the case, outlining the scope of Wen’s activities and the hazards they represented if not checked by law or accountability.
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