Amanallah Paidar, AECA and IEEPA Violations, Washington 2013

Washington D.C. – 2024

Amanallah Paidar, of Iran, and Murat Bükey, of Turkey, have been charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for their roles in schemes to procure and export U.S. technology to Iran between 2005 and 2013.

According to the indictment, between 2012 and 2013, Paidar and Bükey conspired to procure and export U.S. technology for Iran through their companies Farazan Industrial Engineering, in Iran, and Ozon Spor Ve Hobbi Ürünleri, in Turkey. Specifically, Paidar and Bükey exported from the United States and transshipped through Turkey a device that can test the efficacy and power of fuel cells and attempted to obtain a bio-detection system that has application in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) research and use.

Bükey, who was extradited to the United States from Spain in July 2022, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the AECA and IEEPA in December 2022. He was sentenced on March 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 28 months in prison, with credit for time served. He will be removed from the United States after completing his sentence. Paidar is a fugitive and remains at large.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division stated, “The defendants’ efforts to unlawfully export advanced U.S. technology that could benefit the Iranian regime’s military and weapons of mass destruction research pose a threat to all Americans.”

The FBI thwarted an attempt to export advanced, American controlled, technological systems and goods, stated Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. “The FBI will not stand idly while hostile countries attempt to evade our laws and circumvent U.S. sanctions and we will work tirelessly to stop such activity.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and our federal law enforcement partners will zealously pursue those who break these laws and harm our national security interests, regardless of where in the world they operate, stated U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia.

The sentencing of Murat Bükey and the charging of four others with conspiring to illegally export technologies and goods to Iran demonstrates our determination to hold those who attempt to circumvent U.S. export laws and sanctions accountable, stated Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg.

Related Federal Cases