Woman sentenced for Iran export violations

NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department announced the sentencing of a U.S. citizen charged with conspiring to export banned aircraft equipment to Iran.

The Justice Department said Laura Wang-Woodford received a 46-month prison sentence for violating the U.S. trade embargo on Iran.

Wang-Woodford served as the director of the Singapore-based Monarch Aviation Ptd Ltd., a company involved in the import and export of military and commercial aircraft components.

She and her husband Brian Woodford of Britain were charged with a 20-count indictment in New York in January 2003. Court documents show between 1998 and 2007 both defendants exported U.S. aircraft parts from the United States to Singapore and Malaysia before exporting them again to Iran.

A superseding indictment also charges them with arranging for the export of U.S. military aircraft components designed for Chinook military helicopters.

When she was arrested in 2007, authorities found several brochures from a Chinese company containing advertisements for surface-to-air missile systems and rocket launchers. The company, China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp., is sanctioned for selling military hardware to Iran.

"This case illustrates a successful, coordinated effort to stop the illegal shipment of controlled aircraft parts to Iran," said Kevin Delli-Colli, acting assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement.

Wang-Woodford was in custody since her 2007 arrest after returning from Hong Kong. Her husband remains at large.