DOJ Charges 5 People for Illegal Tech Exports to Iran
Five people from Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were charged in two cases at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. They allegedly tried to obtain and export U.S. technology to Iran from 2005 to 2013.
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The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three of the people along with four entities for their role in the scheme which "supports Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and weapons programs (see 2303210031).
In one case, Amanallah Paidar of Iran and Murat Bukey of Turkey allegedly conspired to ship U.S. technology to Iran through their companies Farazan Industrial Engineering and Ozon Spor Ve Hobbi Urunleri, respectively. The duo specifically exported "a device that can test the efficacy and power of fuel cells and attempted to obtain a bio-detection system that has application in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) research and use," DOJ said.
Bukey pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the AECA and IEEPA in Dec. 20 and was sentenced on March 20 to 28 months in prison. Paidar remains at large.
The second case charged Iranian citizens Agshar Mahmoudi and Bahram Mahmoudi Mahmoud Alilou and UAE citizen Shahin Golshani for conspiring to obtain a high-speed camera that has nuclear and ballistic missile testing applications, a nose landing gear assembly for an F-5 jet and a meteorological sensor system. The trio worked to buy these goods through their companies Aran Modern Devices Kish Co. in Iran and Modern Technologies in the UAE. All three remain at large, DOJ said.
“The defendants’ efforts to unlawfully export advanced U.S. technology that could benefit the Iranian regime’s military and weapons of mass destruction research pose a threat to all Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said. “The Justice Department will steadfastly pursue and bring to justice anyone who violates U.S. export laws and harm our nation’s security.”