Suburban Chicago Man Charged With Helping North Korea Produce Weapons Of Mass Destruction

By Samantha Abernethy in News on May 6, 2013 8:20PM

A suburban Chicago man was arrested Monday and charged with conspiring to provide parts to North Korea to aid in the construction of weapons of mass destruction.

Yueh-Hsun “Gary” Tsai, 36, is a Taiwan native and legal permanent resident in Glenview, Ill. His father Hsien Tai “Alex” Tsai, 67, was arrested Monday in Estonia and awaits extradition.

In January 2009, authorities designated Alex Tsai and two Taiwanese companies as “proliferators of weapons of mass destruction,” which prohibits American companies from doing business with them. The FBI says Gary Tsai created the company Factory Direct Machine Tools in Glenview to import and export tools to and from Alex Tsai and those companies using aliases.

The FBI wrote in a release:

Specifically, the charges allege that in September 2009, they purchased a Bryant center hole grinder from a U.S. company based in suburban Chicago and exported it to Taiwan using the company Trans Multi Mechanics. A Bryant center hole grinder is a machine tool used to grind a center hole, with precisely smooth sides, through the length of a material.

Both men were charged in federal court in Chicago Monday with conspiring to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by evading restrictions and money laundering.