Obaidullah Syed, Exporting Computer Equipment Illegally, Illinois 2020

A Chicago-area tech executive and his company have been charged with illegally exporting computer equipment to Pakistan. According to an indictment returned in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, Obaidullah Syed, 65, of Northbrook, Illinois, and his company Business System International conspired to export computer equipment from the United States to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission without obtaining the required authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The indictment alleges that from 2006 to 2015, Syed and Business System International conspired with company employees in Pakistan to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by exporting computer equipment from the United States to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was a Pakistani government agency responsible for the design, fabrication, and testing of high explosives and nuclear weapons parts, uranium mining and enrichment, and the development of solid-fueled ballistic missiles.

The indictment charges Syed and Business System International with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and foreign trade regulations, and one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Syed was arrested on September 16, 2020, and remains in federal custody. A detention hearing is scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m. CDT before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in Chicago.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Flanagan. According to the indictment, Syed and his company caused U.S.-based computer manufacturers to submit to the U.S. government shipping documents that listed false end-users for the U.S.-origin goods, thereby undermining the U.S. government's ability to stop the illegal shipments.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The conspiracy count is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, while violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The indictment was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, John R. Lausch, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations; Dan Clutch, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security-Office of Export Enforcement, Chicago Field Office; and Cynthia Bruce, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office.

Defendant: Obaidullah Syed

Criminal Charges: One count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and foreign trade regulations, and one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act

City and State: Chicago, Illinois

Date: September 16, 2020

Sentence: Remains in federal custody awaiting trial

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/chicago-tech-executive-charged-illegally-exporting-computer-equipment-pakistan