A man from Alamo, California, has entered a guilty plea to charges related to violating sanctions and tax evasion. Farhad Nafeiy, aged 70, admitted to the following charges:
- Violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA): Under IEEPA, the President of the United States has the authority to address threats to national security, foreign policy, or the U.S. economy. The President has issued orders prohibiting certain activities and transactions with Iran and its government. Nafeiy obtained licenses from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to advise non-Iranian telecommunications companies on doing business with Iran. However, these licenses did not permit him to provide hardware, software, or technology directly to Iran. Nafeiy exceeded his OFAC licenses, thereby violating IEEPA and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).
- Violation of sanctions by providing software upgrades to telecommunications equipment in Iran.
In his plea agreement, Nafeiy acknowledged that he knowingly exceeded the terms of his licenses and admitted to selling approximately $400,000 worth of software upgrades to Iran. He also confessed to evading federal income taxes by not paying taxes on some of the proceeds from these sales.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin has scheduled Nafeiy’s sentencing hearing for January 29. Depending on the charges, Nafeiy faces prison sentences ranging from five to 20 years for each count, along with maximum fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million for each offense. He is also required to pay over $79,000 in restitution to the IRS.
By FCCT Editorial Team
, an independent military force, and allied militias in Sudan raped several dozen women and girls in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, and those fleeing to Chad between late April and late June 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The assailants appear to have targeted people because of their Massalit ethnicity and, in some cases, because they were known activists.){kind=link}