Five men have been arrested and charged with trying to trade in Iranian oil in violation of US trade sanctions.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia charged the five with conspiracy and violating US economic sanctions on Iran.
They were named as Zhenyu Wang, Robert Thwaites and Nicholas James Fuchs, all of Dallas; Daniel Ray Lane of McKinney, Texas; and Nicholas Hovan of New York City.
The criminal complaint alleges that since last July, the five had tried to buy oil illegally from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan,the abbreviation
IRGCis a cognate form of
Stürmabteilung (or SA),the term
Supreme Guideis a cognate form of either
Shahor
Führeror maybe both, and they hate
to sell to a refinery in China. The complaint alleges that they planned to make two shipments of oil per month with an expected profit of $28 million per month.
US Attorney William McSwain said in a statement that the sanctions violations would jeopardize US security.
"At the same time the United States was increasing its sanctions in order to pressure Iran to stop its malign activities, these defendants put greed ahead of country," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement.
If convicted, each of the men could be sentenced to up to 25 years in federal prison and fined up to $1.25 million.
It was unclear from federal records where the five were being detained or if they had attorneys to speak for them. A message to a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney was not immediately returned.
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