US launches criminal cases involving flow of technology to Iran, Russia and China

The US Justice Department announced a series of criminal cases tracing the illegal flow of sensitive technology, including Apple’s software code for self-driving cars and materials used for missiles, to foreign adversaries like Russia, China and Iran.

Some of the alleged theft highlighted by the department dates back several years, but US officials are drawing attention to the collection of cases now to highlight the work of a task force created this year to disrupt the transfer of goods to foreign countries.

“We are committed to doing all we can to prevent these advanced tools from falling into the hands of adversaries who wield them in a way that threatens not only our national security but democratic values everywhere,” says Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, who heads the Justice Department’s national security division.

In one case, a Chinese national is accused of conspiring to transmit isostatic graphite, a material that can be used in the nose of intercontinental ballistics, to Iran in violation of US sanctions.