U.S. Businessman Convicted Of Attempting To Export Mining Equipment To Iran

A U.S. jury has convicted a man for conspiring to avoid sanctions imposed on Iran by attempting to ship U.S.-made heavy machinery used in mining to the country.

Brian Assi, also known as Brahim Assi, was convicted on October 24 of attempting to export goods from the United States to Iran without a license and other related charges, the Justice Department said in a news release on October 25.

Assi conspired with individuals affiliated with Tehran-based Sakht Abzar Pars Co. (SAP-Iran) to export the machinery indirectly to Iran without first obtaining the required licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the department said.

According to evidence presented at trial, Assi was a Middle East-based salesman for a multinational heavy-machinery manufacturer with a production plant in Florida.

Assi and his Iranian co-conspirators orchestrated the scheme by locating an Iraq-based distributor to serve as the purchaser of two blasthole drills from a subsidiary of Assi's employer.

Assi facilitated the sale of the blasthole drills and attempted to export them to Iran through Turkey, concealing any Iranian involvement in the transaction from his employer.

He claimed the drills were destined for use in Iraq, but in fact Assi intended for his Iranian co-conspirators to ship the items from Turkey to Iran in circumvention of U.S. export-control and sanctions laws.

"The defendant schemed to unlawfully export U.S.-origin mining drills to Iran, while deceiving his employer into believing that they were being sent to Iraq," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in the news release.

Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), said the verdict makes clear that the BIS will work tirelessly to uncover schemes no matter how hard the perpetrators try to hide them.

"We take action whenever we uncover attempts to evade our sanctions, especially when those efforts are designed to support adversaries like Iran," he said.

Assi is scheduled to be sentenced in January.