Iranian National Sentenced to Prison For Conspiring to Illegally Export Products from the United States to Iran

            WASHINGTON—Mansour Moghtaderi Zadeh, 56, an Iranian national, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for taking part in a conspiracy involving the purchase and shipment of various products, including aviation parts and aviation supplies, from the United States to Iran without a license. 

            The sentencing, which took place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by Mary B. McCord, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Channing D. Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. Etre, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Boston, and Special Agent in Charge Michael Imbrogna, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, Boston.

            Zadeh, who had been living in Iran, pled guilty on Oct. 27, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods, technology, and services to Iran without the required license, and to defraud the United States. He was sentenced by Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman. Following completion of his prison term, Zadeh will be placed on a year of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $69,159.

            In court documents filed at the time of the plea, Zadeh acknowledged that beginning in October 2005, Iranian companies requested that Zadeh, through his company, Barsan, procure products, including a fiber optic video transmitter and receiver and aviation course indicators that would otherwise require a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to be exported to Iran.  Members of the conspiracy arranged for the items to be sent from the United States to Iran, for which Zadeh received a commission.

            In March 2007, Zadeh and co-conspirators attempted to export metal sheets and rods that are used in the aviation manufacturing industry from the United States to Iran, without the required license from OFAC.  Zadeh had arranged for his new corporation, Lavantia, to purchase the items, and used an alias in his communications.  In September 2007, the shipment was detained by the United States Department of Commerce pending certification of the end user.  In October 2007, the Department of Commerce issued a Temporary Denial Order (TDO) against Lavantia and Zadeh (under his alias). The TDO prohibited Lavantia and Zadeh from participating in any way in exporting commodities from the United States.  Notwithstanding the TDO, Zadeh and other conspirators exported and attempted to export numerous materials from the United States, including resin, sealant, paint, pneumatic grease, film adhesive, and polyurethane coating and thinner.  The post-TDO conduct included more than $69,000 of exported goods.

            In announcing the sentence, Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord, U.S. Attorney Phillips, Special Agent in Charge Etre, and Special Agent in Charge Imbrogna commended the work of the Special Agents who investigated the case.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese, now with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, and Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas.  Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick W. Yette and Jeffrey Pearlman, who prosecuted the case, as well as Trial Attorney Thea Kendler, of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.