An airman adjusts the frequency on an oscilloscope during a radar function check at an undisclosed location in 2012. Iranian national Saeid Haji Agah Mousaei pleaded not guilty July 22, 2024, to charges of conspiracy, smuggling, wire fraud and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Oscilloscopes were among the items prosecutors say he illegally exported to Iran. (Nathanael Callon/U.S. Air Force)
An Iranian man accused of participating in a scheme to illegally export U.S. electronics with potential military uses and send them to Iran appeared in federal court in Chicago this week.
Saeid Haji Agah Mousaei, 53, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of conspiracy, smuggling, wire fraud and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
The most serious charges are the third and fourth, which each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Mousaei and co-defendants Julie Imelda Lacar Pasion and Faramarz Paiezi “falsely represented to U.S. distributors that their purchases would remain in countries other than Iran,” the Justice Department said.
Mousaei plotted to evade U.S. export restrictions by purchasing advanced electronics such as oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers and then sending them via the United Arab Emirates to Iran, prosecutors say.
Oscilloscopes measure voltage signals displayed as waveforms over time and can be used by the military to test radar and communications, according to Military and Aerospace Electronics magazine.
Spectrum analyzers measure the strength of a radio frequency over a defined band of frequencies. They can be used to test radar and detect hostile emitters, according to the website of Keysight, a used equipment store.
Mousaei was arrested in the U.K. in January 2023 and extradited to the U.S. earlier this month. He remains in pretrial detention, according to court records. A trial date has not yet been set.
The company he managed, Dubai-based Millennium Product Co., also is named in the indictment.
The conspiracy took place from about January 2014 to at least August 2018, according to the statement.
It’s unclear whether arrest warrants have been issued for Pasion or for Paiezi.
