A former U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to 30 months confinement and a $20,000 fine for conspiring with her husband to illegally exporting special ops gear to China for their own profit.
Former Logistics Specialist 1st Class Ye Sang “Ivy” Wang, 37, was assigned to Naval Special Warfare Command and admitted to using her official position to buy military gear that her husband then sold to online buyers in China, according to the department.She pleaded guilty in July and received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Navy in September, according to court records.Her husband, Shaohua “Eric” Wang, 38, ran an online store selling pilfered gear to customers in China, according to court records.In one instance, those records show that Shaohua Wang sold a ballistic helmet belonging to SEAL Team 5 to a Chinese customer in November 2018, netting him about $2,300 in the process.
As an added bonus…the husband is a former member of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Ivy Wang, a Chinese national, moved to the U.S. in 2002, attended high school in Los Angeles and attended UC San Diego before enlisting in the Navy at the age of 21 and becoming a U.S. citizen shortly after.In her plea agreement, Ivy Wang admitted to using her credentials and position in logistics to purchase export-controlled military equipment for his business from 2015 to 2019. Her husband — a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army of China — would then illegally export and store the equipment at a warehouse in China, where he connected with buyers, prosecutors said.Wang returned from Iraq about seven months after the purported camping equipment package had arrived in Coronado. Law enforcement was already on to her by then. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service had opened an investigation into her based on allegations of suspicious behavior, and a review of her emails revealed the procurement scheme, according to court records.
When questioned, Wang admitted she knew her husband was selling the equipment to China.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that after her husband repeatedly asked her to buy equipment with her military email address, she “grew so annoyed” that she gave him her email password and told him to buy the equipment by posing as her.Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said, “This defendant used her position of trust to put the Navy and the nation at risk, and the sentence imposed today holds her accountable for her actions.”
Given the escalating tensions with China, its theft of American technology and its threats against Taiwan, the sentence seems….a bit too mild.
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