Do you ever wonder whether anyone gets prosecuted for export violations? Well, now you can read about who is getting prosecuted for export crimes and what the sentences tend to be! The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, publishes a book entitled Don’t Let This Happen to You, which provides case briefs on criminal prosecutions related to violations of U.S. export control law.
The are multiple cases described that involve aircraft parts. Here is a summary of few of them:
- Stefan Gillier was sentenced to 84 months in prison, three years of probation, $3,509,916 in restitution and an $800 special assessment after he was found in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain aircraft parts from Honeywell and export them through Turkey to Iran.
- Joyce Eliabachus was sentenced to 18 months in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. She pled guilty to allegations that she conspired smuggle over $2 million worth of aircraft components from her NJ company to Iran, through intermediaries in the UAE and Turkey.
- David Levick was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 24 months in prison, 12 months of supervised release, a $199,227 forfeiture, a $400 special assessment, and deportation upon completion of his sentence. He pled guilty to a scheme in which he would order aircraft parts from the United States to his business in Australia and ship them to the Malaysian facilities of an Iranian buyer, from where they would make their way to Iran.
- Erdal Akova was sentenced to 36 months in prison and a $200 special assessment for a scheme involving the shipment of military-grade epoxy (through his facility in Turkey) for use on aircraft in Iran.
- First Call International agreed to a civil penalty of $439,992 for shipments using the STA license exception when it was not applicable. The exports included shipments of defense aircraft through Australia (to make it seem like STA applied) when the ultimate consignee was actually in Malaysia.
- Brothers Issam and Usama Hamade were sentenced to 26 months and 42 months respectively, as well as $100 special assessments, post-incarceration deportation, and ten-year post-conviction denial orders. They were convicted of exporting inertial measurement units, digital compasses, a high-performance jet engine, and various other aircraft parts and avionics. They falsely claimed the goods were destined for South Africa when they were actually being shipped to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
- William Vanmanen was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 24 months of supervised release for a scheme involving false documentation, false designation of value, and exporting aircraft parts to Hong Kong without the required licenses.
- Ali, Marjan and Arash Caby were sentenced two years, one year and one day, and two years in prison, respectively. Other elements of the sentences included supervised release, criminal fines and forfeiture. The three plead guilty to selling aircraft parts to Syrian Arab Airlines.
- Muhammad Mohsin Raja was sentenced to 24 months in prison and one year of supervised release after he was found guilty of transmitting payments in connection with the purchase of aircraft antenna for a denied entity in Pakistan.