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Iranian gets 46 months for smuggling $100,000 in goods to home country

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CONCORD - An Iranian who used a New Hampshire company and bank account to receive payment for goods illegally shipped to his home country was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, the U.S. Attorneys officer announced on Thursday.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Aiden Davidson, a/k/a Hamed Aliabadi, 32, of Brighton, Mass., is a citizen of Iran and a naturalized citizen and resident of the United States.

He was the manager/member and registered agent of a New Hampshire limited liability company, Golden Gate International, LLC ("Golden Gate"). Babazedeh Trading Co., a/k/a "Babazadeh Hydraulic Trading Group" ("Babazadeh") was an Iranian company that operated an online resale business based in Tehran, Iran. Stare Lojistik Enerji Sanayi Ticaret ("Stare") was a Turkish freight forwarding company with a location in Igdir, Turkey.

Between December 2016 and February 2017, Davidson and Golden Gate smuggled goods from Savannah, Ga., to Babazadeh in Iran. The goods included motors, pumps, valves, and other items that were valued at more than $100,000.

Documents related to the shipments falsely identified the Ultimate Consignee of the shipments as Stare in Turkey. In causing the unlicensed exportation of these goods, Davidson and Golden Gate willfully evaded national security controls related to transactions with Iran.

Between April 2017 and August 2017, Davidson and Golden Gate again knowingly smuggled goods from Savannah to Babazadeh in Iran. The goods included displacement pumps that were valued at approximately $13,000. Documents related to these shipments falsely identified the Ultimate Consignee of the shipments as Ariyanis Group in Turkey.

In causing the unlicensed exportation of these goods, Davidson and Golden Gate willfully evaded national security controls related to transactions with Iran.

All told, between 2014 and 2017, Davidson caused a total of at least ten exports of containers of industrial goods and equipment from the U.S. to Iran. During that period he received approximately $1 million in international wire transfers to Golden Gate's bank account in New Hampshire. Davidson was arrested in September 2018 prior to boarding a flight from Atlanta to Turkey.

Davidson previously pleaded guilty on March 3, 2020.

"Export controls are important legal restrictions that can prevent certain items from being used to jeopardize our national security," said U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray. "By smuggling these goods from the United States to Iran, the defendant violated federal law. In order to maintain our national security and protect the people of the United States, we will aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to evade the law by smuggling goods to Iran."

The case investigated by the Department of Commerce's Office of Export Enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

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