A 72-year-old Virginia man was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran, conspired to engage in prohibited business activities on behalf of people and entities in Iran, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
Mokhtari also was ordered to forfeit $2,862,598 in criminal proceeds and a residence he purchased in Campbell, California, for more than $1.5 million, the DOJ said.
Mokhtari pleaded guilty Jan. 9 at the U.S. District Court in Maryland to two counts of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. According to court documents, Mokhtari engaged in a conspiracy lasting from at least March 2018 until at least September 2020 in which he conducted numerous business activities on behalf of Iranian entities without first obtaining the required licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
In a separate conspiracy lasting from February 2013 until at least June 2017, Mokhtari and several Iranian nationals agreed to conduct illicit shipments of petrochemical products to and from Iran by utilizing his front company, East & West Shipping Inc., in Panama, the DOJ said.
Mokhtari held management positions and/or maintained ownership control of numerous businesses in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, collectively referred to as the FSR Network, the DOJ said. Using the FSR Network, he and his co-conspirators illegally provided services to Iranian entities such as the refinement and transport of petrochemical products, according to the DOJ.
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