July 24, 2020
A federal judge in Ohio has ruled three times against prosecutors trying to send an Iranian to prison for sanctions violations. However, appeals court judges overruled the judge twice. The third time, however, they agreed with the judge, who dismissed the case.
On November 15, the judge in Cleveland dismissed all charges against an Iranian professor in mid-trial, ruling the evidence federal prosecutors presented against him was not sufficient to show that he stole trade secrets while working at Case Western Reserve University. Sirous Asgari, who studies metallurgical science, came to the US in December 2011 on a tourist visa and did not say he planned to visit Ohio. In fact, he traveled to Cleveland to meet with faculty at Case, according to court records.
Asgari returned to the US in November 2012 and started work on a project at Case, court records said. The project, paid for by the US Navy Office of Naval Research, was to create and produce anti-corrosive stainless steel. Prosecutors said Asgari sought and obtained a tourist visa, but not one that allowed him to work in the United States. Asgari left the US in April 2013. Before that, he signed a non-disclosure agreement that said he would not reveal information about the project he worked on because it included trade secrets, prosecutors said.
While in the US, Asgari sent emails to students in Iran, which included some of the project’s technical information. Later, information he provided ended up in an economic proposal for the petrochemical industry in Iran, according to court records. Judge James Gwin’s ruling against the prosecution was the third one he had made against prosecutors in the case. In April 2018, the judge suppressed emails the FBI obtained from a pair of search warrants and said an agent wrote an affidavit that contained “wildly misleading” information.
The Cleveland judge also ordered prosecutors to turn over classified information to Asgari’s attorney, against the wishes of the US Attorney’s Office. The 6th Circuit later overturned that ruling as well, writing that the information was not relevant to the charges Asgari faced. Ken Cuccinelli, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, said Washington tried to deport him after the case was dropped but Iran failed to provide a passport for two months, after which the coronavirus halted flights to Iran. Asgari didn’t get back home until July 1.
