U.S. Citizen Sentenced for Conspiring to Provide Electronic Equipment and Technology to the Government of Iran | OPA

Previously today in federal courtroom in Brooklyn, New York, Kambiz Attar Kashani, 44, a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for conspiring to illegally export U.S. goods and know-how to stop consumers in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, in violation of the Worldwide Financial Powers Act (IEEPA). The Central Financial institution of Iran is an Iranian authorities agency that, in accordance to the U.S. authorities, has materially supported Lebanese Hizballah and the Qods Drive of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, both equally selected terrorist companies.

“Kashani conspired to illegally export U.S. items and technologies for the gain of the Central Bank of Iran, a selected entity that materially supports regarded terrorist companies,” claimed Assistant Legal professional General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s Countrywide Security Division. “The Division stays vigilant towards any attempts to circumvent our export regulate and sanctions regulations, which exist to defend the stability of the United States and its folks.”

“Kashani defied export limitations and sanctions towards Iran, a country that sponsors worldwide terrorism,” reported U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “His scheme undermined U.S. overseas coverage and countrywide protection pursuits and warranted a substantial sentence of incarceration to discourage other folks.”

“This is a sobering reminder that illegally exporting product is not an abstract economic concern – it is a criminal offense with a immediate effects on the protection of the American men and women,” explained Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. “Kambiz Attar Kashani pleaded responsible to conspiring to illegally export technologies and goods to Iran, a selected state sponsor of terrorism. The receiver of these technologies was the Central Financial institution of Iran, an entity related to companies this kind of as Iran’s Qods Drive and Lebanese Hizbollah, the two specified terrorist teams that depict a very clear and current risk to the United States. As prolonged as these threats persist, the FBI will not rest in our endeavours to obtain these illegal exporters and provide them to justice.”

According to court docket files, among February 2019 and June 2021, Kashani and his co-conspirators utilized two front organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to illegally procure electronic items and technological innovation from several U.S. technology companies, including a single situated in Brooklyn, for conclude end users in Iran, which include the Central Lender of Iran. Certain goods and technology Kashani and his co-conspirators transshipped have been controlled by the U.S. government for nationwide security and anti-terrorism motives. Kashani and his co-conspirators deliberately hid from the U.S. companies that they meant to mail the goods to Iran, falsely saying that the UAE providers would be the greatest close people. By supplying the Central Financial institution of Iran and other end consumers in Iran with innovative, top-tier U.S. digital gear and program, Kashani and his co-conspirators enabled the Iranian banking process to function extra successfully, successfully and securely.

The FBI is investigating the scenario.

Assistant U.S. Lawyers Alexander A. Solomon and Meredith A. Arfa for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the situation, with assistance offered by Demo Attorney S. Derek Shugert of the National Protection Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Manage Section.