4 Family Members Charged for Exporting 22 F-5 Fighter Jet Engines to Iran
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida has announced that Felipe Echeverry, Amparo Echeverri Valdes, and Carlos Alfredo Pantoja-Coral, of Colombia, and Diego Echeverri, of New York, were indicted on various counts1 for illegally attempting to export twenty-two F-5 jet fighter engines to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
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(The U.S. Iran Embargo (enforced through IEEPA) prohibits the exportation from the U.S. to Iran of any goods, technology, or services, with limited exceptions, unless authorized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).)
Defendants Conspired to Export Engines to Iran through Panama
According to the allegations in the indictment, Felipe Echeverry and three of his relatives conspired to sell twenty-two aircraft engines for $320,000 to an undercover agent and agreed to help the undercover to export the engines from Miami to Iran through Panama. From January through March, 2011, in a series of meetings and conversations, the defendants negotiated the terms of the purported sale, knowing that the ultimate destination of the fighter jet engines was purportedly Iran. According to the complaint affidavit, Iran produces an aircraft named “Saegeh,” which is compatible with the F-5 fighter engines.
If Convicted, Defendants Could Face Max Penalty of over 20 Yrs in Prison
If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum penalty per count of 20 years on Counts 1-3, 5 years on Count 4, and 10 years on Count 5. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of the twenty-two jet engines.
1The defendants were indicted on Counts 1-5 for the charges related to this case.