The verdict against Mohammad-Reza Vaghari, 43, came after the Jury spent six days reviewing the case. The trial itself started in Januaury.
Prosecutors alleged that from 2002 to 2008, Vaghari bought goods—including fuel-cell technology, centrifuges, computer equipment, car parts, helicopter pilot helmets, laptops and sophisticated laboratory and medical equipment—from American firms, then shipped them to co-conspirators in Dubai who later delivered them to customers in Iran.
The co-conspirators then transferred $100,000 from the Iranian customers to a US bank account controlled by Vaghari’s firm, Saamen Co., authorities said.
Vaghari did not have a license to send goods to Iran and said he exported goods only to Dubai.
Prosecutors said some of the items had military as well as civilian applications.
US District Judge Jan DuBois set sentencing for June 3. Vaghari could face 6 1/2 to 8 years in federal prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Vaghari was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the underlying law for sanctions on Iran, as well as making false statements on a US citizenship application in 2004. He was acquitted of fraudulently obtaining a green card in 1998.
The Philadelphia Daily News reported that during closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Lauren Ouziel painted Vaghari, who testified in his own defense, as a scheming liar who tried to con the jury with “self-serving claims” that he was shipping goods to customers in Dubai.
Ouziel told jurors that when FBI agents searched Vaghari’s apartment near Philadelphia in December 2005, they found little evidence of financial records, customer accounts and only a few shipping invoices.
“You’re not seeing them because this was not a legitimate business,” she said. “It’s a criminal business. When you’re committing a crime, you don’t keep records.”
Defense attorney William DeStefano argued that the prosecution case was weak. “[Federal agents] trailed this guy off and on for three years and came up with a big fat zero,” he said.
But the jury believed otherwise.
DeStefano denied that any materials that made their way to Iran had military applications, although that would not make the shipments legal.
Mir-Hossein Ghaemi, 44, of Edgewood, Maryland, also was charged in the case. He pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor, copyright infringement, and is to be sentenced next month.
Vaghari is the Philadelphia area resident in recent years to be charged and convicted of violating trade sanctions with Iran. In January 2010, Ali Amirnazmi was sentenced on similar charges to four years in federal prison.
