Two charged in US over WMD plot Chicago: A Taiwanese man called a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction by the US in 2009 and his Chicago-area son have been charged with trying to evade federal laws curbing the spread of such weapons, prosecutors said. Hsien Tai Tsai, 67, also known as "Alex," was arrested May 1 in Tallinn, Estonia, according to a statement today by acting Chicago US Attorney Gary Shapiro, while the son, Yueh- Hsun "Gary" Tsai, 36, was apprehended the same day in suburban Glenview, Illinois. The US government has linked Alex Tsai to "the supply of weapons machinery to North Korea," Mr Shapiro said in a statement issued jointly with Cory B. Nelson, special agent in charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men are accused of conspiring to defraud US enforcement of laws against the spread of WMD, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by trying to dodge earlier restrictions placed on Alex Tsai and two of his Taiwan-based businesses and with money laundering. The younger Mr Tsai is scheduled to appear before US Magistrate Judge Susan Cox in Chicago later today. His father remains in custody in Estonia pending extradition to the US, according to prosecutors. The crime of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $US1 million fine, the government said. Money laundering is punishable by as long as 20 years in prison. Conspiracy to defraud the US is punishable by as long as five years and a fine of $US250,000.