LARAMIE —The former CEO of a company with a location in Laramie that manufactures tungsten components for the U.S. military has been indicted and arrested by federal prosecutors, accused of sending unauthorized information to China and India.
Joe Sery, 77, and his brother Dror Sery, 70, have both been charged on suspicion of breaking federal export laws in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, according to a Friday press release from the U.S. Department of Justice detailing their indictments.
Joe Sery was the CEO for San Diego-based Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts, which opened a satellite location in Laramie in September 2016. Among other things, the company makes weapons-grade components for the military.
Joe Sery also was listed as the president and director for the Laramie office through 2019, according to business filings with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office.
His brother, Dror Sery, is a foreign national who holds dual citizenship with Israel and South Africa. He remains a fugitive and is believed to be living in Israel.
The indictment alleges that between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 12, 2019, the brothers “knowingly and willfully exported from the United States to the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of India and elsewhere overseas defense articles covered by the U.S. Munitions List without first obtaining permission from the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls,” according to the DOJ press release.
The brothers “on several occasions” and with an outside email address sent unauthorized technical drawings of military components to India and China, the release says.
Joe Sery is no longer the company’s CEO, and Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts is cooperating with the U.S. government’s investigation, according to the Department of Justice.
There also is no indication in the documents that anyone at the Laramie office, aside from Joe Sery, was involved.
“The indictment alleges that these brothers disregarded important regulations designed to keep sensitive information from falling into the hands of those who would harm America,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman.
Chad Plantz, special agent in charge of the San Diego office of Homeland Security Investigations, said the arrest of Joe Sery “sends a clear message that those entrusted with our country’s military technology and weaponry will be held responsible for its safeguarding.”
Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts filed an application for its Laramie location at 1665 Venture Drive on Sept. 7, 2016, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. It continues to operate in good standing with the state.
From the initial filing through the company’s 2019 annual report, Joe Sery is listed as its president/director.
A call to the Laramie office for the local office’s current president wasn’t immediately returned.
Tungsten built its first 20,000-square-foot facility with help from the city of Laramie, Laramie Chamber Business Alliance and the Wyoming Business Council to secure a grant from the State Loan and Investment Board. At the time, the company said it opened the Laramie location because it wanted to move its manufacturing out of China.
By 2019, Tungsten had bought the building seven years earlier than projected. In a Sept. 25, 2019, Laramie Boomerang story about the accelerated purchase of the building, Joe Sery touted the potential for the business in Wyoming.
“Because we want to continue to build, we decided that it would be advisable for us to purchase the building and be the owners,” he said. “Now we don’t need anybody’s approval if we want to go ahead and build.”
He also praised the Laramie Chamber Business Alliance, which sold the building to Tungsten, saying the group was “so straightforward, not complicated, very efficient and super kind.”
Joe Sery also said that while he likes Laramie, the company has faced challenges finding upper-level management and recruiting potential employees from overseas. The issue was serious enough that he said he wasn’t comfortable recommending Laramie to other manufacturers interested in the Gem City.
“How would it look to somebody to try to tell them, ‘Yeah, come to Laramie, great place, wonderful people, hard workers — but you can’t get labor?’” he said in 2019. “It’s a challenge, it’s a problem. Unless somebody takes action about it, it will remain a problem.”
Friday’s announcement of the indictment of the Sery brothers is the second significant criminal allegation against Tungsten Heavy Powder Inc. in less than a year.
In April 2021, the company agreed to pay a $5.6 million settlement to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act, according to the Department of Justice. The company was accused of deliberately submitting false certifications to U.S. regulators about the origin and manufacture of components sent to Israel and financed with federal grants.
“Specifically, it is alleged that THP submitted false certifications pertaining to seven government of Israel purchase orders,” according to a Department of Justice press release outlining the settlement.
The company reported that the tungsten used to manufacture the parts sent to Israel was sourced in the United States when it “was actually sourced in China,” the release says.
Joe Sery, who now goes by the surname Surov, had his arraignment in federal court Monday, said John Parmley, an assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. His bond was set at $200,000 and his next court appearance scheduled for April 11.
This story was published on March 9, 2022.