The PVF Roundtable sheds light on a complex issue riddled with hidden minefields.
You have a client in a friendly European country. You've done business with him for years and when he places another order for oil country PVF, you're only too happy to ring up what promises to be a lucrative sale. Except this time, the transaction brings visits from the U.S. Customs Service, and their investigation leads to criminal prosecution. What you're spending on attorney fees far exceeds the money made on the export deal.
True story. I'm told the company being prosecuted is a PVF distributor, and the ultimate destination of the OCG was Iran. People who know the distributor think his overseas contact deceived him. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided to prosecute, which means they think he knew where the materials were going or willfully avoided knowing. In any case, the distributor is caught up in a costly mess, which can only get a lot worse if he's convicted.