Chinese national gets 9 years for smuggling nuclear materials to Iran
Source: Boston Business Journal
A Chinese national was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston in connection with obtaining technology from a Massachusetts company that could be used to make nuclear weapons-grade uranium and exporting it to Iran.
Sihai Cheng, also known as Chun Hai Cheng or Alex Cheng, 35, a citizen of China, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to nine years in prison. One of Cheng's co-conspirators, Iranian national Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili, was part of a prisoner swap with Iran earlier this month.
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At today’s sentencing, prosecutors argued that Cheng’s "conduct gravely harmed and jeopardized the national security of the United States as well as other countries throughout the world. Cheng even invoked the threat of war between Iran and the United States as a means of increasing his profits."
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office:
Cheng’s network was responsible for supplying Iran thousands of components for its nuclear proliferation activities and advancing Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Cheng knew he was providing Iran critical components for use in the development of weapons-grade uranium and that the parts he was supplying were going Iran’s nuclear program. Indeed, in 2009, according to evidence at the sentencing hearing, when Cheng supplied his first four shipments of pressure transducers, Iran was secretly constructing the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons. Further, based upon expert testimony, from 2009 to 2011, when Cheng supplied Iran 1,185 MKS pressure transducers, Iran was engaged in nuclear proliferation activities.
In imposing the nine-year sentence, Saris found that Cheng “knowingly provided material support to develop a nuclear weapon.”
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Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2016/01/27/chinese-national-gets-9-years-for-smuggling.html
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