Iranian National Pleads Guilty to Violating U.S. Sanctions Against Iran

 WASHINGTON – A Iranian national pleaded guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to export U.S. goods to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).

According to court documents, Arash Yousefi Jam, 33, an Iranian national living in Ontario, conspired with others – including Abdollah Momeni Roustani, believed to be living and working in Iran – to obtain goods from at least three U.S. companies, including one in Michigan, and export those goods to Iran in violation of economic sanctions. Records shows that the goods included nine electrical discharge boards, one CPU board, two servo motors and two railroad crankshafts.

According to court records and Jam’s guilty plea, the defendants caused the goods to be shipped from the United States through the United Arab Emirates and to Iran in an attempt to hide the fact that the end users of the goods were located in Iran – a fact that Jam knew. Jam and the other conspirators also ensured that payment for the goods came from banks in countries other than Iran to hide the ultimate destination of the goods from U.S. companies.

Jam is scheduled to be sentenced on October 14, at 11 am before U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy. Jam faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. 

Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations and the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Moon of the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs.