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Woodside man who illegally exported metal powder to Iran sentenced to 5 years prison

Sept. 8, 2017 By Christian Murray

A Woodside man who exported specialty metals to Iran–in violation of a US trade ban—was sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison, the Justice Department announced yesterday.

Erdal Kuyumcu, a 45-year-old US citizen and CEO of the Woodside-based Global Metallurgy, pleaded guilty on June 14, 2016 for conspiring to export a metallic powder to Iran that has potential military and nuclear applications. He was sentenced in Brooklyn Federal Court Thursday to 57 months in prison.

According to the DOJ, Kuyumcu with the help of others plotted to obtain more than 1,000 pounds of the metallic powder from a US supplier and then ship it to Iran via Turkey.

Kuyumco worked with a Turkish-based co-conspirator that shipped a batch of the powder to an Iranian steel company from Turkey, according to the DOJ. The Iranian company had the same address as an entity associated with Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“With this sentence, the defendant is being held accountable for conspiring with others to send specialized US technology…with nuclear and missile applications to Iran via Turkey,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Boente in a statement. “The National Security Division will aggressively prosecute those who seek to unlawfully provide dangerous material and technology to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com

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8 Comments

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Al from Sunnyside

Boy, your just a fool and your material is stale. El loco has been defeated. Good for al, your a moron el loco. A beaten moron

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Me

OMG, Iran was going to bomb us with 1000 metal powder! Give me a break. Catch and jail the real criminals, they are in the capital and wall street.

Not saying this guy is totally innocent, he shouldn’t have done this, but I think DOJ is going nuts with this 57 months in prison sentence. I wonder what he will do when he gets out, now that his life is ruined..

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