A U.S. citizen has pleaded guilty to conspiring to export specialty metals from the United States to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday.
Erdal Kuyumcu, CEO of Woodside, N.Y.-based company Global Metallurgy, faces sentencing in the Eastern District of New York of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for conspiring to violate federal regulations prohibiting the export of specialized metals without a license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Kuyumcu, 44, and others planned to ship without the proper license over 1,000 pounds of a metallic powder – consisting of cobalt and nickel – through Turkey to Iran, DOJ said. Using Turkey as a way station was intended to mask the fact that the material was heading to Iran.
The powder can be used as coating for components in gas turbines, with nuclear, aerospace, and missile production applications, and is therefore regulated by the U.S. government to prevent nuclear proliferation, the statement said.
