German engineering and technology firm Bosch has agreed to pay a $36 million fine to resolve federal allegations that it exported restricted products and software to China’s Huawei Technologies without required authorization, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors accused Bosch of exporting more than $70 million worth of foreign-produced sensor products and software to Huawei and its affiliates from September 2020 to September 2024, according to the agreement announced June 18. Prosecutors said the exports were conducted through two of Bosch’s non-U.S.-based subsidiaries and violated Export Administration Regulations enforced by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
The National Security Division (NSD) declined to prosecute the company after Bosch voluntarily disclosed the violations, cooperated with the investigation, and agreed to forfeit $11.4 million in profits from the alleged transactions, the Justice Department said. A portion of the forfeited amount will be credited against the $36 million fine.
“This declination reflects the clear benefits for companies that promptly disclose potential violations and fully assist in our investigations,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a statement. “This first-of-its-kind decision by NSD highlights the important role of transparency in safeguarding U.S. technology and national security.”
The resolution is the NSD’s first declination under the Justice Department’s new corporate self-disclosure policy, which the department-wide corporate enforcement policy announced in March. The Trump administration described the policy at the time as a way to promote “uniformity, predictability and fairness in how it pursues white-collar cases” and to “incentivize” companies to disclose misconduct and cooperate with Justice Department investigations.
The case adds to a series of enforcement actions tied to U.S. export controls on technology bound for China. In March, federal prosecutors charged three men in an alleged smuggling scheme to divert Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China.