10/27/2011

News / Georgia Man Sentenced to Nearly Four Years in Prison in Plot to Supply Iran with U.S. Military Aircraft Components

MACON, GA. – A Georgia man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison, a $10,000 fine and was ordered to forfeit $160,362 in connection with his efforts to illegally export military components for fighter jets and attack helicopters from the United States to Iran.



Michael Edward Todd, a U.S. national who is president of The Parts Guys LLC, a company in Port Orange, Fla., that maintains a warehouse at the Middle Georgia Municipal Airport in Macon, was sentenced this morning in federal court in the Middle District of Georgia.



The sentence was announced by Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Michael J. Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia; Brock Nicholson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations office in Atlanta; Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Division; and Robert Luzzi, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Commerce Department Office of Export Enforcement (OEE) in Miami.



“This case demonstrates the importance of keeping America’s sensitive military technology from falling into the wrong hands. Today, Michael Todd is being held accountable for his role in a broad conspiracy to supply Iran with advanced military aircraft technology that is restricted for export from the United States,” said Michael J. Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.



Todd was arrested in December 2010 in Atlanta. He, along with his company, The Parts Guys, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act on May 9, 2011. According to court documents, Todd conspired with several others to export components for attack helicopters and fighter jets from the United States to Iran without obtaining the required U.S. export licenses. These components included military parts for the Bell AH-1 attack helicopter, the UH-1 Huey attack helicopter, as well as the F-5 and F-4 fighter jets.



Todd is the second individual defendant to plead guilty and be sentenced in this investigation. Co-defendant Hamid “Hank” Seifi, an Iranian-born U.S. national, and his St. Charles, Ill., company, Galaxy Aviation Services, pleaded guilty on Feb. 24, 2011, to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in connection with illegal exports of military aircraft components to Iran. On June 22, 2011, Seifi was sentenced to 56 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a fine of $12,500 and forfeiture of $153,950, while Galaxy Aviation, which is now defunct, received a $400 special assessment.



This case was investigated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta, FBI Atlanta Field Division and the Department of Commerce’s OEE.



The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Kolman and Danial E. Bennett from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia and Trial Attorneys Ryan P. Fayhee and Brandon L. Van Grack from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/October/11-nsd-1412.html

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