On January 14, 2022, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that it unsealed a criminal complaint charging Kambiz Atar Kashani with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for allegations related to the export of sophisticated electronic equipment and technology from the US to end users in Iran including the Government of Iran, without first obtaining required licenses or authorizations from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. According to the US Attorney’s Office, Kashani, a dual US and Iranian citizen who resided in United Arab Emirates, was arrested in Chicago on January 13, 2022 where he was remanded pending a detention hearing at his initial appearance in a Chicago federal court.
According to the complaint, Kashani, who served as a principal of two technology companies in the UAE and was a self-described distributor of technology in the Middle East, who worked in cooperation with the Iranian government, used his two UAE companies as front companies to illegally procure goods, services, and technology from multiple US technology companies between 2019 and 2021 for the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), an entity that was controlled by the Government of Iran and classified by OFAC as a Specially Designated National for acting on behalf of a terrorist organization. Kashani allegedly worked with coconspirators to acquire the goods without first obtaining export licenses that were required by OFAC and willfully concealed from the US companies that the goods were intended for Iran by intentionally failing to disclose any contact information associated with Iran and falsely claiming that the UAE front companies were the ultimate end users.
EDNY Press Release | Complaint