Inside ICE: Volume 4, Issue 3

Arms and Strategic Technology Investigations Yield Convictions

High-tech pressure sensors seized last year from a man attempting to export them to Iran.

Sentences were handed down on both coasts in early May 2007 for persons convicted of arms and strategic technology export crimes.

Leib Kohn, age 68, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced in New Haven, Conn. to 30 days of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release. Kohn had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act by sending military components out of the United States without the required authorization from the U.S. Government. Kohn and his companies have also paid a fine in the amount of $25,000.

Kohn was charged with procuring various munitions items from U.S. manufacturers, including one based in Connecticut, and shipped them to Israel without seeking permission of the U.S. Government for the export. These items are controlled by the U.S. State Department and require licenses and approvals from the U.S. State Department prior to export.

Some of the items Kohn procured and exported are: Parts designed for use in military radar, parts for the F-4 Phantom jet fighter aircraft, and parts for the Hawk guidance missile systems.

Two days earlier in Santa Ana, Calif. an Iranian-born United States citizen was sentenced to two years in prison and six months of home confinement for illegally exporting U.S. military aircraft parts to Iran via associates in Germany and the United Arab Emirates.

Reza Tabib, 52, of Irvine, pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which prohibits the export and re-export to Iran of certain items of U.S. origin.

In January 2006, agents intercepted and seized maintenance kits specifically designed for the F-14 "Tomcat" aircraft that Tabib, along with his wife, Terri Repic-Tabib, had sent to Iran via Germany. Agents arrested the couple at their Irvine residence in February 2006. A search of the Tabibs' home led to the seizure of 13,000 more aircraft parts worth an estimated $540,000. Those seized parts included military-grade hardware for different aircraft, including the F-14. The search also turned up numerous aircraft parts lists that were provided to the couple by an Iranian military officer. In addition, agents located two suitcases and two briefcases filled with aircraft parts believed to be destined for Iran. The investigation revealed that prior to his arrest, Tabib had purchased tickets to travel to Iran.

Terri Repic-Tabib pleaded guilty to providing a false statement on a shippers' export declaration form and was sentenced to two years probation.

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