WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- A British firm was fined $2 million Tuesday after pleading guilty to illegally exporting Boeing 747 aircraft to Iran, the U.S. Justice Department said.
In accordance with a plea agreement, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington sentenced Balli Aviation Ltd. to the maximum fine permitted and corporate probation for five years, Justice officials said.
The $2 million fine, when combined with a $15 million civil settlement among Balli Group PLC, Balli Aviation Ltd., the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security and the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, is one of the largest fines for an export violation in the Bureau of Industry and Security's history.
Among other things, court documents indicate Balli Aviation Ltd. conspired in 2007 and 2008 to export three Boeing 747 aircraft from the United States to Iran without first getting the required BIS export license or OFAC authorization, violating export regulations and Iranian transactions regulations.
