U.S. Seeking Extradition of Iranian Man for Illegal Export, Smuggling
The Department of Justice charged an Iranian man and his Iran-based company with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., smuggling, and a violation of the Arms Export Control Act, in connection with the unlawful export of 55 military antennas from the U.S. to Singapore and Hong Kong, it said. Amin Ravan, a citizen of Iran, was arrested by authorities in Malaysia in connection with a U.S. provisional arrest warrant. The U.S. is seeking to extradite him from Malaysia to stand trial in the District of Columbia. If convicted, Ravan faces 20 years in prison for the AECA violation 10 years for smuggling, and five years for the conspiracy charge.
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According to the indictment, Ravan was based in Iran and acted as an agent of his company IC Market Iran and an agent of Corezing International, a company based in Singapore that also maintained offices in Hong Kong and China. In late 2006 and early 2007, Ravan attempted to procure for shipment to Iran export-controlled antennas made by a company in Massachusetts, through an intermediary in Iran, DOJ said. The antennas sought by Ravan were cavity-backed spiral antennas suitable for airborne or shipboard direction finding systems or radar warning receiver applications, as well as biconical antennas that are suitable for airborne and shipboard environments, including in several military aircraft.
After this first attempt was unsuccessful, Ravan joined with two co-conspirators at Corezing in Singapore so that Corezing would contact the Massachusetts company and obtain the antennas on behalf of Ravan for shipment to Iran, DOJ said. When Corezing was unable to purchase the export-controlled antennas from the Massachusetts firm, Corezing then contacted another individual in the U.S. who was ultimately able to obtain these items from the Massachusetts firm by slightly altering the frequency range of the antennas to avoid detection by the company’s export compliance officer.
In March 2007, Ravan and the co-conspirators at Corezing agreed on a purchase price of $86,750 for 50 cavity-backed antennas from the United States and discussed structuring payment from Ravan to his Corezing co-conspirators in a manner that would avoid transactional delays caused by the Iran embargo, DOJ said. Ultimately, between July and September 2007, a total of 50 cavity-backed spiral antennas and five biconical antennas were exported from the United States to Corezing in Singapore and Hong Kong, it said
According to the indictment, no party to these transactions -- including Ravan or IMI -- ever applied for or received a license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to export any of these antennas from the U.S. to Singapore or Hong Kong.
Two of Ravan’s co-conspirators, Lim Kow Seng (aka Eric Lim) and Hia Soo Gan Benson (aka Benson Hia), principals of Corezing, have been charged in a separate indictment in the District of Columbia in connection with this particular transaction involving the export of military antennas to Singapore and Hong Kong, DOJ said. The two Corezing principals were arrested in Singapore last year and the U.S. is seeking their extradition.