Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Send Tech to Iran

A man who is a dual-citizen of Iran and the U.S. pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to illegally conspiring to export technology and other electronic equipment to Iran’s authoritarian government, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Kambiz Attar Kashani, 44, evaded U.S. export laws with co-conspirators between February 2019 and June 2021 by failing to obtain the proper approval from the Treasury Department while providing services to Iran, the DOJ said Tuesday. He faces up to 20 years in prison and agreed to pay a $50,000 fine, according to the DOJ, on top of any forfeiture owed.

He conspired to export “two subscriptions to a proprietary computer software program; several fixed attenuators; two subscriptions to operating software; six power supplies; and several storage systems,” according to a prior court filing obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Kashani was acting at the direction of a department linked to the Central Bank of Iran, which the Treasury Department sanctions due to it “having materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support to known terrorist organizations.”

In 2021, the Central Bank of Iran’s former governor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for funneling millions of dollars to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terror group. Hezbollah is backed by Syria and Iran, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Kashani violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law giving the U.S. president authority to regulate international commerce if there is an “unusual and extraordinary threat. . . to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” according to the DOJ.

The case is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of New York.

Kashani and the DOJ could not be reached for comment by TheDCNF.