US Sanctions, Indicts Leaders of Iranian UAV Procurement Scheme
The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 companies and four people with ties to Iran’s unmanned drone program, including Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, the Iranian-based leader of the network who helped illegally procure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of U.S. and foreign-made components to Iran. Along with the new sanctions, DOJ charged Ardakani and his accomplice, China-based Gary Lam, for violating U.S. export controls.
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Both Ardakani and Lam, also known as Lin Jinghe, worked to illegally export U.S. dual-use microelectronics and other items commonly used in unmanned aerial vehicles to Iran in 2014 and 2015, DOJ said. Those exports included high electron mobility transistors, monolithic microwave integrated circuit power amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters, each of which was subject to license requirements for anti-terrorism, national security and regional stability reasons.
The two used a “web” of foreign companies to hide the exports and evade U.S. sanctions, DOJ said. In one case, Lam, who worked for a Chinese company, convinced an “unwitting” French company to buy analog-to-digital converters from a U.S. firm. Lam then “caused a division” of the French company to ship the items to Hong Kong before they were reexported to Iran, DOJ said. The two used a “variation of this tactic” on companies in Canada, Hong Kong and China on three other occasions, allowing them to send items to Iran that can be used in radar, infrared imaging and other dual-use technologies.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the companies used by Ardakani and Lam, including Malaysia-based Skyline Advanced Technologies SDN BHD, Hong Kong-based Dirac Technology HK Limited, Malaysia- and Hong Kong-based Integrated Scientific Microwave Technology SDN BHD, Malaysia- and Hong Kong-based Arta Wave SDN BHD and Malaysia-based Nava Hobbies SDN BHD.
DOJ said it’s seeking to seize more than $800,000 combined from Nava Hobbies and Arta Wave, citing the companies' violations of sanctions against Iran and money laundering violations. OFAC said Nava Hobbies helped ship electrical motors, electrical fuel pumps, and servomotors for Ardakani, and Arta Wave shipped thousands of UAV servomotors or helped ship other servomotors on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization.
Ardakani and Lam were both charged with conspiracy to export U.S. goods to Iran and to defraud the U.S., which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence; illegally exporting and attempting to export goods to Iran, which carries a maximum 20-year sentence; and conspiracy to engage in international money laundering, which also carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. DOJ said both are at large and believed to be abroad.
U.S.-origin technology “has zero place in Iranian UAVs,” said Matthew Axelrod, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s top export enforcement official. “As these allegations demonstrate, those who procure dual-use microelectronics for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be held accountable.” Matthew Olsen, head of DOJ’s National Security Division, said the U.S. will “aggressively investigate, disrupt, and hold accountable criminal networks that supply sensitive technology to hostile and repressive governments in contravention of U.S. sanctions.”
Others designated by OFAC include Iran-based Kavan Electronics Behrad Limited Liability Company, Iran-based Mehdi Dehghani Mohammadabadi, Iran-based procurement agent Gholamreza Ebrahimzadeh Ardakani, Iran-based Teyf Tadbir Arya Engineering Company, Iran-based Basamad Electronic Pouya Engineering Limited Liability Company, Iran-based Saman Industrial Group, and Indonesia-based firm Surabaya Hobby CV and the company’s owner Agung Surya Dewanto.