Two brothers convicted of sending exports from their U.S. company to countries considered sponsors of terrorism were sentenced Wednesday to federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Hazim Elashi was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison and will be deported after serving his sentence. His brother Ihsan "Sammy" Elashi was given a six-year term, which will run consecutively to the four-year sentence he is currently serving.Hazim and Ihsan Elashi, their three brothers and their company were convicted in 2004 on charges of making illegal technology shipments to Libya and Syria.
The Elashis ran InfoCom Corp., a Richardson firm that did up to $5 million in business a year selling computers and Internet services to mostly customers in the Middle East. Prosecutors say they shipped computer products to Libya and Syria from 1997 to 2000, violating a ban on exporting technology, goods or software to countries the U.S. government lists as state sponsors of terrorism.
Agents from the FBI investigated InfoCom for years and raided the business the week before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the original indictments against the brothers, calling it part of a campaign against "the financiers of terror."
The men also were involved in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Muslim charity that was closed after the Treasury Department accused it of being a front for the militant group Hamas. Bayan Elashi, Ghassan Elashi and Basman Elashi have not been sentenced on the exporting charges