Two Men Indicted for Conspiracy to Export Uranium Enrichment Materials to Iran
Two men accused of creating a global network of shell companies to deceive U.S. companies into supplying nuclear-related materials to Iran were indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia, reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to a superseding indictment made public Friday, Iranian national Parviz Khaki and Chinese national Zongcheng Yi allegedly attempted to obtain and illegally export U.S.-origin materials to Iran that can be used to construct, operate and maintain gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, ICE said. This includes materials such as maraging steel, aluminum alloys, mass spectrometers, vacuum pumps and other items. Khaki is also accused of conspiring to procure radioactive source materials from the U. S. for customers in Iran, said ICE.
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ICE Alleges False Statements to U.S. Companies to Conceal Final Destination
ICE special agents uncovered the conspiracy in 2008, it said. According to ICE, Special agents found that Khaki directed Yi and others to contact U.S. companies about purchasing U.S.-origin goods. Yi and other conspirators then placed orders and purchased goods from various U.S. companies and had the goods exported from the United States through China and Hong Kong to Khaki and others in Iran. Yi and others allegedly made a variety of false statements to U.S. companies on behalf of Khaki to conceal that Iran was the final destination and end-user of the goods and to convince U.S. companies to export these items to a third country.
Both defendants are charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by conspiring with others to cause the export of U.S. goods to Iran without the required U.S. Treasury Department license; conspiracy to defraud the U. S.; two counts of smuggling; two counts of illegally exporting U.S. goods to Iran in violation of IEEPA; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
One Defendant Arrested in Philippines, Other Still at Large
Khaki, also known as "Martin," was arrested May 24 by Philippine authorities based on a U.S. provisional arrest request stemming from a March 2012 U.S. federal indictment, ICE said. Khaki remains in Philippine custody and the United States intends to seek his extradition to stand trial in the District of Columbia. Yi, who also goes by "Yi Cheng," "Kohler," and "Kohler Yi," is purported to be the managing director of Monalila Co. LTD, a company in Guangzhou City, China, and remains at large, ICE said.
The defendants face a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiring to violate IEEPA, five years in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States, 10 years in prison for each smuggling count, 20 years in prison for each IEEPA count and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering.