ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747324/posts?page=101#101
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran
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NOTE: The following text is a quote:
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/061204chicago.htm
December 04, 2006
California sales executive sentenced for violating export ban on products to Iran
CHICAGO A sales director for a Los Angeles area manufacturing company was sentenced last week for attempting to illegally send a banned product to Iran following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Juan Sevilla, 55, of Gardena, Calif., was sentenced Nov. 30 by U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah to six months home confinement with electronic monitoring, five years probation, a $10,000 fine, and 100 hours of community service. Sevilla had pleaded guilty Sept. 14 to one count of violating Iranian Transaction Regulations under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Sevilla was previously director of international sales for United Calibration Corp. of Huntington Beach, Calif., which manufactures universal testing systems and related software technologies. Sevilla was first charged in February 2004 when he was arrested on a criminal complaint.
According to the plea agreement, between Oct. 27, 2003, and Feb. 19, 2004, Sevilla attempted to export a United Computer Inclusive Hydraulic Floor Model Testing Machine from California through Chicago, to Iran, in violation of the U.S. export embargo to that country. The machine being exported tests the strength or mechanical properties of various metals and is on the Nuclear Suppliers Group Watch List as a commodity that can make a material contribution to nuclear activities of concern. Neither Sevilla nor United Calibration had government authorization to export the product to Iran.
The case against Sevilla began in 2003 after ICE agents investigating a separate case searched the e-mail accounts belonging to an Iranian national. These accounts identified Sevilla as a person in California illegally doing business with Iran. ICE agents in Chicago subsequently held undercover negotiations via e-mail, fax, telephone, and in-person with Sevilla regarding the purchase of the testing machine for export to Iran.
Exporting sensitive technology is controlled for good reason, said Elissa A. Brown, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago. Keeping sensitive U.S. technology and software from falling into the wrong hands is a high priority for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security also assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Collins, Northern District of Illinois, successfully prosecuted this case.
President Clinton signed Executive Orders in 1995 prohibiting any new investments in, or unauthorized exports to Iran by a U.S. person. These Orders have been continuously renewed, most recently by President Bush; the embargo is in effect through March 2007.
-- ICE --
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