Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and Gary Lam, also known as Lin Jinghe, are accused in a September 2020 indictment unsealed on Tuesday with conspiring to illegally purchase and export US-made dual-use microelectronics to Iran.
"We remain focused on disrupting the efforts of Iran and its agents to circumvent US sanctions in support of Iran's weapons programs, including its drone program, which have been used to support and supply terrorist organizations and other foreign adversaries -- such as Russia -- around the globe," US attorney Matthew Graves said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Ardakani and his co-conspirators used foreign companies to evade US export controls on sensitive equipment.
"Between June and September 2015, Ardakani and Lam caused an unwitting French company to purchase from a US company several pieces of analog-to-digital converters," the Justice Department said.
The converters had applications in wireless and broadband communications, radar and satellite subsystems, antenna array positioning and infrared imaging, it said.
The Justice Department said Lam had a division of the French company ship the analog-to-digital converters to Hong Kong where they were then reexported to Iran.
"Ardakani and his co-conspirators crafted a sophisticated web of front companies to obscure the illicit acquisition of US and foreign technology to procure components for deadly UAVs," special agent Michael Krol said. "These very components have been found in use by Iran's allies in current conflicts, including in Ukraine."
The Justice Department said Ardakani and Lam remain at large and are believed to reside abroad.
The Treasury Department announced meanwhile that it was imposing sanctions on a network of 10 entities -- led by Ardakani -- and four individuals based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
U.S. deploys sanctions, unseals indictment targeting Iran's drone industry
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 19, 2023 -
The United States took aim at Tehran's drone industry Tuesday, deploying sanctions and unsealing an indictment that target a procurement network present in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
The Biden administration said the international network is led by 38-year-old Iranian Hossein Hatefi Ardakani -- an Iranian citizen accused of facilitating the procurement of U.S.- and foreign-origin components valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars for the aerospace research and development arm of the U.S.-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its drone program.
"Iran's illicit production and proliferation of its deadly UAVs to its terrorist proxies in the Middle East and to Russia continues to exacerbate tensions and prolong conflicts, undermining stability," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.
The Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned Ardakani along with three other people and 10 entities, including front companies, in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia on accusations of being a part of his international procurement network.
Coinciding with the blacklisting, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Ardakani and 41-year-old Gary Lam, whom the Treasury sanctioned in October along with 10 others for supporting Iran's missile and drone programs.
The court document specifically charges them with conspiracy to export U.S. goods to Iran and defraud the United States, unlawfully exporting and attempting to export goods to Iran and conspiracy to engage in international money laundering, the most severe of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.
Prosecutors have accused the pair of conspiring to purchase and export dual-use microelectronics used in drone production from the United States to Iran between at least September 2014 and September 2015. The components in question are under U.S. export controls for anti-terrorism, national security and regional stability reasons, according to the Justice Department.
Lam, who is based in Hong Kong and China, and Ardakani are further accused of working with other co-conspirators to obfuscate and evade detection of their illegal purchases and exportations through the use of a constellation of foreign companies. Prosecutors said they employed this tactic at least four times.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that it has also seized some $800,000 from companies tied to the network.
"U.S. technology has zero place in Iranian UAVs," Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod of the Department of Commerce said in a statement.
"As these allegations demonstrate, those who procure dual-use microelectronics for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be held accountable."
The Justice Department said that Ardakani and Lam both remain at large.
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