A U.S. company is accused of illegally exporting defense technology used by the U.S. military to Russia and three other countries, U.S. prosecutors said.
Rocky Mountain Instrument Co., based in the U.S. state of Colorado, said it was working toward a plea agreement with prosecutors and that it has been cooperating with investigators for more than two years.
Prosecutors said RMI, which manufactures optics components, exported prisms and technical data for optics used in military applications to the four countries from April 1, 2005, to Oct. 11, 2007. They said RMI did so without permission from the U.S. State Department.
The other countries are South Korea, China and Turkey.
U.S. officials did not elaborate what the technology was used for. U.S. District Attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner declined to comment on whether national security might have been compromised.
Prosecutors said the company would be forced to forfeit $1 million if convicted of a charge of knowingly and willfully exporting defense articles without a license. The amount represents the money that the company obtained through the alleged offense.
RMI spokeswoman Tricia Heller said the company expected to reach a plea agreement within the next 45 days. She said she could not comment on whether the plea would include any admission of wrongdoing.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service, which probes terrorism matters and the illegal transfer of defense technologies to proscribed countries, according to the agency's web site. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was also involved in the investigation.
In addition to Colorado, RMI has offices in Russia and South Korea, the Denver Business Journal reported. (AP, MT)