Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. announced yesterday that ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications concern, has agreed to a record-high combined civil and criminal penalty of $1.19 billion, after illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea in violation of US law.

ZTE has agreed to pay a penalty of $661 million to Commerce’s Bureau of Industry Security (BIS), with $300 million suspended during a seven-year probationary period to deter future violations.  If the criminal plea is approved by a federal judge, the combined $1.19 billion in penalties would be the largest fine and forfeiture ever levied by the US government in an export control case.