WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A US CEO has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for conspiring to export specialty metals to Iran that have nuclear and missile applications, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
"Erdal Kuyumcu, 45, of Woodside, N.Y., and the chief executive officer of the Woodside-based Global Metallurgy, LLC, was sentenced to 57 months in prison following his June 14, 2016 guilty plea to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by exporting specialty metals from the United States to Iran," the Justice Department stated on Thursday.
Kuyumcu, a US citizen, admitted to conspiring with others to send over a thousand pounds of metallic powder with nuclear and missile applications to Iran via Turkey, Acting Assistant US Attorney General Dana Boente said.
Kuyumcu used coded language to discuss the shipment with a co-conspirator based in Turkey, such as referring to Iran as the "neighbor," court documents showed.
Shortly after one of the shipments was sent from Turkey to Iran, a steel company in Iran sent a letter-sized package to Kuyumcu's Turkey-based co-conspirator, according to court filings.
The Justice Department said the Iranian steel company had the same address as an Iranian entity that has been sanctioned by the Treasury Department over its association with Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
