A federal court has charged US citizen Kambiz Attar Kashani with conspiring to provide technology and electronic equipment to the Iranian government, the US Justice Department reported on Friday.
Kashani, 44, who also holds Iranian citizenship, was arrested the previous day in Chicago for conspiring to deceive American companies. He was reportedly going to illegally export US goods to the Iranian government without an export license. Kashani and his co-conspirators withheld their intention from the US companies to send the items to Iran.
US Attorney for the New York Eastern District, Breon Peace, stated that Kashani "used the US financial system in procuring US electronic equipment and technology for the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which has been designated by the United States government as acting for or on behalf of terrorist organizations.
"The defendant allegedly used two United Arab Emirates companies as fronts to procure items from multiple US technology companies, including a company in Brooklyn," Peace continued. Kashani used the two companies from February 2019 to June of last year, according to the Justice Department.
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Joseph Bonavolanta reported the possibility that Kashani "profited financially by strengthening the economy of one of the world’s most infamous state sponsors of terrorism."
The CBI has assisted and provided technology, goods and finances to Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, as well as the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to the US government.
The Justice Department has reiterated that the charge is merely an allegation and that Kashani is "presumed innocent" unless he is proven guilty.