Iranian nuke plot vaporized in the city: NY banks unwittingly aided in material transfers, says DA

[seemslikeadream]

http://cbs13.com/national/morgenthau.nuke.iran.2.978744.html



NEW YORK (AP) ―
Click to enlarge
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said Tuesday the payments were sent to and from a limited number of Chinese banks that handled accounts for Li and his companies. (File)

Indictment:
A Chinese businessman has been indicted on charges of illegally using New York City banks to help Iran's military agencies buy materials to make nuclear weapons, Manhattan's chief prosecutor said Tuesday.

The 118-count indictment charges Li Fang Wei and his company LIMMT, identified years ago as fronts for Iran's illegal nuclear activities, with falsifying business records and with conspiracy to gain access to U.S. banks, prosecutors said.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said one goal of the investigation was to make the public and the federal government aware that Iran is "deadly serious" about developing nuclear weapons technology.
Morgenthau said Li is in China and he will ask the government there to extradite him to the United States.

Besides sales of standard metal and mineral products to commercial customers on the global market, LIMMT sells sophisticated military materials to Iran's Defense Industries Organization (DIO), Morgenthau said. He said many materials LIMMT sells to Iran are banned from export to that country.









http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/07/2009-04-07_iranian_nuke_plot_vaporized_in_the_city_-2.html

BREAKING: Chinese financier Le Fang Wei indicted in plot to send nuclear materials to Iran.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.

Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.

"This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already," a law enforcement source close to the case said.

"We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran."

Experts say Iran, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears close to amassing enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb. A United Nations embargo bans Iran from acquiring the high-tech metals needed to make a long-range nuclear weapon a reality.

The indictment will outline the financial conspiracy behind 58 different transactions, including shipments of various banned materials from China to Iran between 2006 and late 2008.

[The Straight Story]

1. I thought the patriot act was supposed to stop all that while invading our privacy?

:)

[seemslikeadream]

2. I figured it out

I was a naive girl, really.

[The Straight Story]

3. Glad you did

And you are not naive :)

[seemslikeadream]

4. well if I have to say it ...

stupid then. I was not paying attention.

[The Straight Story]

5. Don't worry, someone will tax attention soon and then we will all pay attention

;)