US sets USD 5mn bounty on Chinese man over Iran dealings

The United States unveiled a new indictment and slapped a USD 5 million reward today on the head of a Chinese man it called a "principal supplier" to Iran's ballistic missile program.
Washington said Li Fangwei, or Karl Lee, has continued to ship equipment and materials to Iran even after he and his company LIMMT Economic and Trade were first indicted and blacklisted by the United States in 2009.
The Department of Justice's new charges allege that he used China-based front companies -- some with the same address as LIMMT -- to move millions of dollars worth of payments from Iran through the US financial system.

The department said it had seized of nearly USD 7 million linked to the payments, claiming the money from the accounts of Chinese banks in US banks.
From 2006 to 2014, the Justice Department said, Li used front companies for more than 165 separate US dollar transactions, worth more than USD 8.5 million.
"Included in those illicit transactions have been transactions involving sales to US companies and sales of merchandise by Li Fangwei to Iran-based companies utilizing the US financial system," it said.

The indictment said that in 2011, via a front company, Li exported to Iran a production line for aramid fiber, which can be used for ballistic missiles and centrifuges for uranium enrichment, as well as for body armor.

He also used front companies, it said, to invoice Iranian buyers for shipments of specialized tubes, pipes and rods that can be used in developing gas centrifuges.
Such centrifuges are at the center of accusations that Iran is seeking to enrich enough nuclear fuel to arm future atomic weapons.