CHICAGO –-(ENEWSPF)–March 16, 2015. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin; U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon of the Northern District of Illinois; Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Holley of the FBI’s Chicago Office; Special Agent in Charge Gary Hartwig of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) in Chicago; and Acting Special Agent in Charge David Nardella of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement of the Chicago Field Office announced today that a former resident of Taiwan, who the United States has linked to the supply of weapons manufacturing machinery to North Korea, was sentenced today to serve 24 months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Norgle of the Northern District of Illinois. The defendant, Hsien Tai Tsai, 69, pleaded guilty in October 2014, admitting that he conspired with others to interfere with and obstruct U.S. regulations that seek to disrupt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. When imposing sentence, Judge Norgle credited Tsai for the substantial assistance he provided, and would continue to provide, to the government in its investigation of weapons of mass destruction proliferators. Tsai, also known as Alex Tsai, was arrested in May 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia, and was later extradited to the United States, where he remains in federal custody.
