US-based NGO pleads guilty to illegal export of goods to Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The United States Attorney’s Office announced on Friday that a US-based NGO pleaded guilty in federal court for illegal export of goods to Syria.
The US Attorney’s Office stated in a press release, “NuDay Syria, pleaded guilty to three counts of Failure to File Export Information.”
NuDay is a non-profit charity organization based in New Hampshire that was founded in 2013 and provides humanitarian relief to people affected by the crisis in Syria.
“Between 2018 and 2021, NuDay made over 100 shipments to Syria, a country that was subject to sanctions and export restrictions. NuDay had the items shipped to Mersin, Turkey, where another company would transship them into Syria,” the statement added.
According to regulations of the US Department of Commerce, exporters are required to report the information of the goods they export, including the monetary value.
“However, NuDay falsely reported that the end destination of the shipments was Turkey and not Syria, and artificially deflated the value of the goods to be below the $2,500 reporting threshold,” the Office added.
The NGO admitted that the intended destination of a shipment on May 5, 2019, was Syria and its true value was $8.3 million.
The European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, imposed a series of economic sanctions and restrictions on Syria mainly as a result of the repression of civilians in the Syrian civil war from 2011 onwards.
On May 30, US Department of the Treasury said in a statement that they imposed sanctions on “two Syrian money service businesses that have secretly helped the Syrian regime” and its allies including Hezbollah and Quds Forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In the case of NuDay Syria, the US District Court is scheduled to issue the sentence on December 28, 2023.