US Arrests 3 Businessmen for Alleged Selling Auto Parts to Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Three San Francisco Bay Area-based businessmen have been arrested on charges of allegedly selling auto parts to Iran by violating Washington’s trade sanctions against Tehran, a local media report said Saturday.
The three businessmen, who are naturalized US citizens from Iran, allegedly used "elaborate systems of international wire transfers to provide funds for smuggling auto parts into Iran", which has been under US trade sanctions for years, the Mercury News reported.
Sadr Emad-Vaez, Pouran Aazad and Hassan Ali Moshir-Fatemi, who are listed as executives for a Tehran-based manufacturing operation, were accused of being engaged in transactions involving the "illegal export of goods and services to Iran", the report said, quoting sources with the US Attorney's Office of the Northern California District.
They were also indicted for playing a role in financial transactions designed to evade the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations, which bans US citizens from exporting or selling any goods, technology, or services to Iran without a license of the US government, according to Xinhua.
Two of them were arrested at a Silicon Valley residence south of downtown San Francisco, and the other one was detained at San Francisco International Airport early this month.
If convicted of all offenses, the three men could face in total a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and $1,250,000 in fine.
