Meriden business owner Muhammad Ismail, 67, and his son Kamran Khan, 38 of Hamden, admitted in federal court today to laundering money earned from the illegal export of U.S.-controlled technology to military-linked agencies in Pakistan. The guilty pleas, entered in Bridgeport federal court, mark the latest chapter in a years-long scheme to bypass U.S. export laws and funnel high-tech materials to blacklisted Pakistani entities.
Ismail and Kamran Khan pleaded guilty to one count of international money laundering, directly tied to shipments of export-controlled goods sent without authorization to the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). Between January and July 2013, the pair knowingly shipped bagging film — a material critical for advanced composite fabrication and high-temperature applications — to SUPARCO, despite being fully aware that a license was required and none had been obtained.
The operation ran from at least 2012 to December 2016 through shell companies operating as Brush Locker Tools, Kauser Enterprises-USA, and Kauser Enterprises-Pakistan. Orders came from a Pakistani firm supplying materials to the country’s military, with the defendants routinely lying to U.S. manufacturers about end-use, falsely claiming products would remain in the United States or signing certifications stating exports wouldn’t occur.
Once delivered to Connecticut, the goods were repackaged and shipped to sanctioned Pakistani agencies, including the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), SUPARCO, and the National Institute of Lasers & Optronics (NILOP) — all listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List. Payments for these illicit shipments were wired from Value Additions’ Pakistan-based bank account to a U.S. account controlled by the defendants, completing the financial trail that federal investigators later traced.
A third defendant, Imran Khan, 43 of North Haven, already pleaded guilty on June 1, 2017, to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He admitted to exporting an Alpha Duo Spectrometer to PAEC between August 2012 and January 2013 without a license. Imran Khan remains free on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing, as do Muhammad Ismail, released on a $50,000 bond, and Kamran Khan, on a $100,000 bond since their 2016 arrests.
All three defendants are citizens of Pakistan and lawful permanent residents of the United States. Muhammad Ismail and Kamran Khan now face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The investigation was led by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement. Prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacabed Rodriguez-Coss and Stephen B. Reynolds, with Trial Attorney Scott McCulloch of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
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Key Facts
- State: Connecticut
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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