Indian charged with illegally shipping machinery to Iran

An Indian national, along with the chief executive of a US-based company, has been charged with illegally shipping machinery to sanctions-hit Iran, federal prosecutors announced today.
In a statement, US Attorney Peter Smith alleged that Pennsylvania-based Hetran allegedly manufactured a horizontal lathe, also described as a bar peeling machine (peeler), valued at more than USD 800,000 and weighing in excess of 50,000 pounds.
A horizontal lathe, or peeling machine, is used in the production of high grade steel or bright steel, a product used, among other things, in the manufacture of automobile and aircraft parts.
A criminal information has been filed against Hetran, its CEO Helmut Oertmann and its overseas agent, Suneil Malhotra, an Indian national, charging them with conspiracy to evade export reporting requirements and with attempting to smuggle to Iran a lathe machine in violation of US export regulations.

Simultaneously, an indictment was unsealed that had previously been voted by a federal grand jury in December 2012 against three Iranians and two Iranian firms connected with the criminal scheme: Mujahid Ali, Khosrow Kasraei, Reza Ghoreishi, FIMCO FZE, and Crescent International Trade and Services FZE.
Hetran is charged with conspiring to violate the export laws of the United States, and is subject to a sentence of up to USD 1,000,000.

Oertmann, charged with attempting to smuggle goods from the US to Iran, faces a potential penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment, a fine of up to USD 250,000 and up to 5 years supervised release.

Malhotra and the Iranian defendants are charged with conspiring to violate and with attempting to violate the export laws of the US, each carrying potential penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment, a fine of up to USD 250,000 and up to five years supervised release for the individual defendants and a USD 1,000,000 fine for each corporate defendant.
US has imposed a series of curbs on Iran, including economic, trade, scientific and military sanctions over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.
Currently, the sanctions include an embargo on dealings with Iran by the United States, and a ban on selling aircraft and repair parts to Iranian aviation companies.