Queens Businessman Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 10 Months in Prison for Violating Iran Trade Embargo, Money Laundering, and Other Crimes
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that REZA SAFARHA was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 10 months in prison for violating the Iran Trade Embargo, money laundering, conspiracy, and theft of government money. SAFARHA was found guilty in February 2011 by U.S. District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN, who found, among other things, that SAFARHA illegally transmitted approximately $300,000 through the “hawala” system to Iran and that SAFARHA believed the money was proceeds from criminal conduct. Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “This office takes violations of the United States’ trade embargo with Iran very seriously. Reza Safarha employed a form of financial legerdemain to circumvent the embargo, and added insult to injury by doing this to conceal what he believed were the proceeds from the sale of stolen property.” According to the indictment, the evidence at trial, and Judge SULLIVAN’s public findings: Th...