The Justice Department said a California man will face trial in a Los Angeles federal court for his alleged role in the illegal export of cesium atomic clocks to Hong Kong.



The Justice Department said Alex Yun Cheong Yue of South El Monte, Calif., will face trial in a Los Angeles federal court for his alleged role in the illegal export of cesium atomic clocks to Hong Kong.

Federal agents in Boston arrested Yue, 67, on Thursday and charged him with one count of conspiracy to commit export violations, two counts of illegal exports and attempted exports of U.S. goods to Hong Kong and one count of smuggling.

The Justice Department noted that Wai Kay Victor Zee, 56, of Hong Kong, and his company, Premium Tech Systems Ltd., also were charged. However, Zee currently remains at large in Hong Kong.

Starting in December 2015, Zee allegedly began conspiring to import U.S.-made cesium atomic clocks. The technology is used in global positioning system solutions, network timing protocols, encryption programs and national defense and space applications. They are controlled for export by the Commerce Department for national security and anti-terrorism reasons.

Over the next three years, Zee and Yue used a variety of deceptive documentation schemes to attempt to hide their identities, the end user and end use from the Massachusetts atomic clock manufacturer and the U.S. government export licensing requirements, investigators said.

The current charges against Yue could lead to 20 years in jail, three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine, if convicted. The charge of smuggling goods from the U.S. provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.