Seven Charged for Illegal Export of Electronics to U.S. Designated Terrorist Entity in Paraguay

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Edward Joffe

 
Four individuals and three Miami businesses have been indicted on charges involving the export of electronics to a U.S. designated terrorist entity in Paraguay.

Samer Mehdi, 37, of Paraguay, Khaled T. Safadi, 56, of Miami, FL, Ulises Talavera, 46, of Miami, FL, Emilio Jacinto Gonzalez-Neira, 43, of Paraguay, Cedar Distributors, Inc. (Cedar), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Safadi, Transamerica Express of Miami, Inc. (Transamerica), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Talavera, and Jumbo Cargo, Inc. (Jumbo), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Gonzalez-Neira, were indicted on charges of conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 371, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701-1706, and smuggling electronic goods from the United States to Paraguay, 18 U.S.C. § 554. The Indictment also seeks the forfeiture of an amount equal to the value of the electronics that were illegally exported. If convicted, the individual defendants face up to 20 years’ imprisonment on the IEEPA charges, 10 years’ imprisonment on the smuggling charges, and 5 years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy charge. The companies each face up to five years’ probation on all charges, and fines of up to $1,000,000 on the IEEPA charges, and $250,000 on the smuggling and conspiracy charges, respectively.

This investigation was initiated in 2007 by ICE, FBI, CBP and DOC, as part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). According to the allegations in the Indictment, from at least as early as March 2007 through and continuing to at least January 2008, freight-forwarders Talavera, through Transamerica, and Gonzalez-Neira, through Jumbo, exported Sony brand electronics, including Playstation 2 consoles and digital cameras, to defendant Samer Mehdi, owner of Jomana Import Export, an electronics business located within the Galeria Page, a shopping center in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Safadi, through Cedar, was a distributor of the electronics to the freight-forwarders.
Since December 6, 2006, the shopping center known as Galeria Page in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, has been designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity by OFAC, pursuant to Executive Order 13224. Consequently, any transaction or dealing by a U.S. person with Galeria Page, including any transaction or dealing with an entity within Galeria Page, is prohibited. The OFAC designation banned trade with Galeria Page and all tenants located therein. At all relevant times to the Indictment, it is alleged that the defendants were aware that shipping to Galeria Page was prohibited.
To conceal the true destination of the prohibited shipments, the defendants created fake invoices that contained false addresses and also listed fictitious ultimate consignees on the required Shippers Export Declarations (SEDs), and other necessary export paperwork. Locations referenced in these false documents, as well as corresponding emails, ensured that the electronics would reach the prohibited intended destination. Additionally, wire transfer payments from Mehdi in Paraguay to the U.S.-based distributors were routed through various facilities to mask their true origin.
An Indictment is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
 

Tags: , , , ,

Suit against UBS for aiding terrorism continues

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Edward Joffe

Bankers and their counsel must continue to be concerned about potential liability for ignoring how their customers use funds. This is particularly critical for customers with connections to areas of the world with terrorism issues.

UBS logoIn a law suit pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Senior District Judge Charles Sifton has denied USB AG’s motion to dismiss a civil suit brought by the widow and children of Stuart Scott Goldberg, killed in a January 29, 2004 terrorist attack on a Jerusalem bus. UBS AG (“UBS”) is an international financial institution headquartered in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland, with offices in, among other locations, Israel and the United States.

The Goldberg family brought claims under the civil remedy provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (“ATA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2333(a) alleging that UBS is liable for:

  1. Aiding and abetting the murder or attempted murder of a United States citizen causing the commission or attempted commission of physical violence upon United States Citizens;
  2. Committing acts of international terrorism in violation;
  3. Collecting and transmitting funds on behalf of a terrorist organization

The plaintiffs are trying to hold UBS liable for its alleged role in facilitating the transfer of funds to the terrorist group, Hamas, which was allegedly responsible for the bombing. The complaint alleges that funds raised by Hamas for purportedly charitable purposes are in fact used to finance terrorist activities. Financing for Hamas is said to be principally procured through an extensive network of “charities”, one of which is the Association de Secours Palestinien (“ASP”), headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, ASP is the primary fundraiser for Hamas in Switzerland and on August 22, 2003 was placed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control list as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

Despite this designation, UBS continued to provide services for ASP, including transferring money from ASP’s account to the account to a West Bank institution, the Tulkarem Zakat Committee which used those funds to facilitate the suicide bomber who is alleged to have detonated a bomb on Bus No. 19 in Jerusalem on January 29, 2004 killing 11 people and wounding 50 others. 

In its motion to dismiss, UBS was successful in dismissing the first Count which only applied to U.S. citizens. Goldberg held dual Israeli and Canadian citizenship. All the other legal objections were denied by the judge.

An article by Kathianne Boniello in the New York Post reported that, while Chezi Goldberg was a Toronto native, he lived with his wife and children in Flatbush for a decade before moving to Israel in the 1980s. The deceased wrote a column in The Jewish Press on teen issues and had been slowly building his practice, his sister, Carrie Devorah, said.

Tags: , , ,