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Nader Modanlo, a Potomac man, has been convicted of conspiring to illegally provide satellite services to Iran.
A federal jury in Maryland has found Nader Modanlo, 52, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Iran, guilty of charges arising from a conspiracy to illegally provide satellite related services to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering and obstruction of bankruptcy proceedings. Modanlo, a mechanical engineer and self-proclaimed expert on strategic policy and finances affecting the space-based telecommunications industry, managed to launch an Iranian earth observation satellite equipped with a camera into space from Russia on October 27, 2005. This was the first-ever Iranian satellite put into orbit.
The launch was made possible by a complex, decade-long conspiracy that spanned multiple countries and involved close partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. According to evidence presented at the six-week trial, Modanlo represented that he was an internationally-recognized expert on strategic policy and finances affecting the space-based telecommunications industry, and that he managed companies that provided satellite-related services to Iran.
“Nader Modanlo violated the law by helping Iran launch communications satellites,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “The Iran Trade Embargo prohibits Americans from supplying goods, technology and services to Iran directly or indirectly.”
“This conviction is the result of a complex, decade-long HSI investigation that spanned multiple countries and involved close partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Internal Revenue Service,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge in Baltimore William Winter. “This investigation shows that HSI special agents will tenaciously pursue those who attempt to illegally export sensitive technologies and threaten the security of the United States by willfully violating our customs laws.”
The President of the United States issued an Executive Order in 1995 imposing a trade embargo against Iran, after finding that Iran’s policies and actions posed a threat to the national security of the United States. Under the embargo, the Office of Foreign Assets Control issued the Iranian Transactions Regulations, which prohibited the export, re-export, sale or supply, directly or indirectly, by a U.S. citizen, of goods, technology or services to Iran or the Government of Iran, without prior governmental authorization.
Modanlo’s conviction is a significant blow to those who attempt to circumvent U.S. laws and regulations. As U.S. Attorney Rosenstein noted, “The Iran Trade Embargo prohibits Americans from supplying goods, technology and services to Iran directly or indirectly.”
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Cybercrime|White Collar Crime|Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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