Jury convicts Iranian national for illegally exporting military parts for Iran
SAN ANTONIO - A federal jury convicted an Iranian citizen of scheming to sensitive military parts for Iran.
The jury convicted Mehrdad Ansari, 39, of conspiracy to
violate Iranian Transaction Regulations, conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of the Treasury and two counts of
aiding and abetting the making of false statements.
Evidence presented during trial revealed that Ansari
attempted to transship cargo obtained from the U.S. by co-defendants Taiwanese
citizen Susan Yip, aka Susan Yeh, and Iranian citizen Mehrdad Foomanie, aka
Frank Foomanie, using Ansari’s companies, Gulf Gate Sea Cargo L.L.C. and Global
Merchant L.L.C., located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
These parts had dual-use military and civilian capability
and could be used in such systems as nuclear weapons, missile guidance and
development, secure tactical radio communications, offensive electronic
warfare, military electronic countermeasures (radio jamming), and radar warning
and surveillance systems.
From October 9, 2007, to June 15, 2011, primarily Yip and
Foomanie obtained over 105,000 parts valued at approximately $2,630,800
involving more than 1,250 transactions from companies worldwide. The defendants
obtained or attempted to obtain parts from U.S. companies without notifying the
U.S. companies these parts were being shipped to Iran or getting the required
U.S. government license to ship these parts to Iran.
At no time did Yip, Foomanie or Ansari, individually or
through any of their companies, ever apply for or receive either a required
U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
license or Department of Commerce export license to ship any item listed in
this indictment to the Republic of Iran.
Iranian Transaction Regulations prohibit, among other
things, the exportation, re-exportation, sale or supply, directly or
indirectly, to Iran or the Government of Iran, of any goods, technology or
services from the U.S. or by a U.S. person. The embargo also prohibits any
transaction by any U.S. person or within the U.S. that evades or avoids, or has
the purpose of evading or avoiding, any prohibition set forth in the Executive
Orders.
Ansari faces up to 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy
to violate Iranian Trade Regulations; up to five years for conspiracy to commit
wire fraud; up to five years for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of
the Treasury; and up to five years on each count of aiding and abetting the
making of false statements. Sentencing is scheduled for September 1, 2021.
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