The Bureau of Industry and Security just released settlement documents resolving allegations that Borna Faizy, Touraj Ghavidel and Signal Microsystems, Inc., illegally exported computer equipment from the United States to Iran. According to the BIS charges, Faizy, Ghavidel and Signal Microsystems transshipped the items through Dubai (where else?), used coded language in emails with Iranian customers to hide their customer’s identities and locations, and falsely stated on their Electronic Export Information filings that the ultimate end users were in Dubai. As a result, over at least 2 years, more than $1 million in computer equipment was shipped by the three to Iran. Under the settlement agreement, no fine is being imposed; rather the three exporters have agreed to a ten-year denial order.

The settlement agreement comes on the heels of a plea agreement entered by Faizy and Ghavidel where they plead to making false statements to federal agents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Under the plea, the government and the defendants agree that a fine and one year probation would be an adequate sentence. The basis for the charge under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 is that Faizy and Ghavidel, when questioned by federal investigators, swore up and down that they were absolutely not doing any business with Iran and would never ever even think of doing so, cross their hearts and hope to, etc., etc.

It is hard to tell why such a favorable plea deal was reached here. The false EEIs and the coded emails certainly suggest that the defendants knew that they were breaking the law. And they also managed to ship a boat load, almost literally, of computers to Iran. All I can figure is that the prosecutors saw the picture of Ghavidel with Ron Jeremy, which Ghavidel put on his own Twitter feed, and decided that Ghavidel was too cool to go to jail.

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