DOJ Charges Iranian Company, Nine Individuals Violations of Iran Trade Sanctions
An Iranian corporation, its subsidiaries and several of its officers and business partners have been charged in Alexandria, Va., accused of allegedly exporting more than $30 million in computer goods from U.S. companies to Iran in violation of trade sanctions imposed on Iran, the Justice Department said.
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Charged through an indictment and criminal complaint include Business Machinery World Wide (BMWW), an Iranian corporation based in Tehran, Iran; three of its subsidiary companies located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and nine officers and individuals, DOJ said. They are accused of conspiring to defraud the U.S. and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. If convicted, those charged face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, DOJ said.
According to the indictment, beginning in 2008, BMWW began soliciting and receiving computer goods from the U.S. knowing that this conduct was prohibited under U.S. law, DOJ said. To avoid detection and to facilitate the shipment of goods from the U.S. to Iran, BMWW directed the U.S. goods to be shipped to its subsidiary companies in the United Arab Emirates where similar trade restrictions are not imposed, it said. These subsidiaries were created solely to illicitly transship the U.S. goods to Iran and evade the export embargo, alleged DOJ.
The indictment alleges that BMWW and its subsidiaries and officers committed these acts willfully, communicating with each other that because a company is “based in USA and has representatives globally…if they understand that the customer is an Iranian they will stop selling due to embargo on Iranian companies. Make sure that they will never find out that the manager of [a subsidiary] is an Iranian,” according to DOJ
From May 2010 through April 2011, the indictment alleges that officers at BMWW, while in Iran, ordered nearly $320,000 in digital media equipment from a company based in Burke, Va, DOJ said. The equipment was shipped to a BMWW subsidiary in Dubai and then forwarded on to Iran.