A 72-year-old virginia man has pleaded guilty to two conspiracies to do business in Iran without obtaining the correct licences or permissions in violation of US sanctions, reports Ventura, California's gCaptain.
US naturalised citizen Behrouz Mokhtari faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of the two conspiracy counts and must repay the money and forfeit a US$1.5 million house in California.
Mokhtari conspired with others to evade Iranian sanctions by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities without obtaining the required licences from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Mokhtari worked with co-conspirators to control multiple businesses in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, referred to as the FSR Network, to provide services to Iranian entities and engage in transactions involving Iranian petrochemical products.
In his guilty plea, Mokhtari stated that from February 2013 until June 2017, many Iranian nationals conducted illicit shipments of petrochemical products to and from Iran and used the US financial system for the hiring of the vessels and other expenses.
Mokhtari created a front company in Panama known as East & West Shipping Inc to purchase two liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, for US$38 million, which were used to transport Iranian petrochemical products for Iranian entities associated with the government of Iran.
After using East & West to purchase the two vessels, he transferred ownership to conceal the vessels' financial and ownership interests.
'For example, through email communications from Greenline email accounts, or email accounts containing some variation of the Greenline name, the conspirators directed Company 5, a ship management company, to oversee the leasing and operation of [the vessels] to transport Iranian petrochemical products from Iranian ports to other locations and to participate in ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian products while on the high seas,' said the Department of Justice.
'Mokhtari and his co-conspirators frequently communicated by email about the nature and source of the products that the vessels were transporting, as well as the use of false shipping documents and other measures taken to conceal the fact that the vessels were transporting products to and from Iran, in order to evade the Iranian sanctions.'
SeaNews Turkey
US naturalised citizen Behrouz Mokhtari faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of the two conspiracy counts and must repay the money and forfeit a US$1.5 million house in California.
Mokhtari conspired with others to evade Iranian sanctions by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities without obtaining the required licences from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Mokhtari worked with co-conspirators to control multiple businesses in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, referred to as the FSR Network, to provide services to Iranian entities and engage in transactions involving Iranian petrochemical products.
In his guilty plea, Mokhtari stated that from February 2013 until June 2017, many Iranian nationals conducted illicit shipments of petrochemical products to and from Iran and used the US financial system for the hiring of the vessels and other expenses.
Mokhtari created a front company in Panama known as East & West Shipping Inc to purchase two liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, for US$38 million, which were used to transport Iranian petrochemical products for Iranian entities associated with the government of Iran.
After using East & West to purchase the two vessels, he transferred ownership to conceal the vessels' financial and ownership interests.
'For example, through email communications from Greenline email accounts, or email accounts containing some variation of the Greenline name, the conspirators directed Company 5, a ship management company, to oversee the leasing and operation of [the vessels] to transport Iranian petrochemical products from Iranian ports to other locations and to participate in ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian products while on the high seas,' said the Department of Justice.
'Mokhtari and his co-conspirators frequently communicated by email about the nature and source of the products that the vessels were transporting, as well as the use of false shipping documents and other measures taken to conceal the fact that the vessels were transporting products to and from Iran, in order to evade the Iranian sanctions.'
SeaNews Turkey