Posted on 02/11/20
| News Source: Arutz-7
Five men arrested and charged with trying to trade in Iranian oil in violation of US trade sanctions, could face 25 years in prison.
Five men have been arrested and charged with trying to trade in Iranian oil in violation of US trade sanctions, The Associated Press reports.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, Zhenyu Wang, Robert Thwaites and Nicholas James Fuchs, all of Dallas; Daniel Ray Lane of McKinney, Texas; and Nicholas Hovan of New York City are charged with conspiracy and violating US economic sanctions on Iran.
The criminal complaint alleges that since last July, the five had tried to buy oil illegally from Iran to sell to a refinery in China.
The complaint alleges that they planned to make two shipments of oil per month with an expected profit of $28 million per month.
US Attorney William McSwain said in a statement that the sanctions violations would jeopardize US security.
If convicted, each of the men could be sentenced to up to 25 years in federal prison and fined up to $1.25 million.
The US has ramped up the sanctions on Iran ever since it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.
In December, Washington sanctioned Iran’s biggest airline and its shipping network. Last month, it sanctioned eight Iranian officials who were involved in a ballistic missile attack on US troops in Iraq. Read more at Arutz-7