A businessman who once worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin was sentenced on Monday to six-and-a-half years in prison for attempting to purchase sophisticated military weaponry for the Chinese government.
Ko-Suen "Bill" Moo, 59, was also fined US$1 million by US District Judge Donald Graham for his role in the scheme, which included an attempt to buy an engine for an F-16 fighter and AGM-129 cruise missiles from sellers who were actually undercover US agents. Moo and another man also sought to buy Blackhawk helicopter engines.
Moo, who was once Lockheed Martin's top agent in Taiwan, pleaded guilty in May to being a covert Chinese agent, conspiracy to broker and export US defense items and attempting to pay a US$500,000 bribe to win release from federal custody.
"I'm very sorry," Moo said through an interpreter at a sentencing hearing attended by seven family members.
Moo's attorney, Michael Tein, noted that Moo had no prior criminal record and that he made no profit from his efforts on China's behalf.
"He made a very serious mistake. It was atypical of his entire life," Tein said.
Moo, however, did admit attempting to acquire the military hardware for China along with a Frenchman who remains a fugitive beginning in 2004. They first sought to purchase the Blackhawk engines and then decided to focus instead on the F-16 engine.
In August last year, Moo met in Miami with individuals he thought were selling the engine but who were in fact undercover ICE agents. At that meeting, he showed them a document indicating that China also wanted the cruise missiles and AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. He was arrested when he went to inspect the engine.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
RSS