SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Three San Francisco Bay Area-based businessmen have been arrested on charges of allegedly selling auto parts to Iran by violating U.S. trade sanctions against Tehran, a local media report said Saturday.
The three businessmen, who are naturalized U.S. citizens from Iran, allegedly used "elaborate systems of international wire transfers" to provide funds for smuggling auto parts into Iran, which has been under U.S. trade sanctions for years, the Mercury News reported.
Sadr Emad-Vaez, Pouran Aazad and Hassan Ali Moshir-Fatemi, who are listed as executives for a Tehran-based manufacturing operation, were accused of being engaged in transactions involving the illegal export of goods and services to Iran, the report said, quoting sources with the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern California District.
They were also indicted for playing a role in financial transactions designed to evade the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations, which bans U.S. citizens from exporting or selling any goods, technology, or services to Iran without a license of the U.S. government.
Two of them were arrested at a Silicon Valley residence south of downtown San Francisco, and the other one was detained at San Francisco International Airport early this month.
If convicted of all offenses, the three men could face in total a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and 1,250,000 U.S. dollars in fine.
