Taiwanese businessman Kevin Chen (陳憶嵐), 40, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Miami to attempting to illegally export items to Iran that could be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons systems. Chen will be sentenced on July 30.
The US operates a stringent weapons embargo against Iran at least in part because Tehran is believed to be working on a nuclear bomb.
Chen faces up to 20 years in prison and a US$2 million fine, but his sentence is likely to be reduced because he has cooperated with US federal investigators.
In February, Chen tried to ship 8,500 glass-to-metal seals and 120 military-grade connectors from Guam to a company in Iran.
The items involved have clear dual military-civilian uses and could have been used in the manufacture of missiles and unmanned military drone aircraft.
The US Department of Commerce said Chen has made 30 shipments of banned material to Iran over the last three years.
He deceived suppliers by telling them that the shipments were bound for Hong Kong or Taiwan.
Chen has also pleaded guilty on behalf of his business, Landstar Tech Co.
He has been incarcerated since his arrest and appeared in the Miami court wearing a tan-colored prison outfit.
Chen fell under suspicion last year when he tried to export 2,000 detonators to Iran — a transaction that was blocked by federal investigators in Miami.
The investigators gained access to Chen’s e-mail account and found messages in which he said: “As you know, we cannot tell [the] USA this connector is for you. So we have to tell a white lie to [the] USA that this is for our factory in Hong Kong.”
Late last year, an undercover US agent based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contacted Chen pretending to be from a supply company and suggesting ways he could avoid the strict US sanctions against Iran.
Chen refused to become involved in shipping major items to Iran because it was too risky.
He said in one e-mail: “What we want is to do the business by means of safe and low profile ways, then nobody gets hurt.”
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