AmericasGasRegulatory

American faces lengthy jail sentence over Iranian LPG shipments

Behrouz Mokhtari, 72, of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran, Iran, a naturalised US citizen, has pleaded guilty this week to two separate conspiracies to violate sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran.

Mokhtari created a Panama-based front company, East & West Shipping, to purchase two liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tanker vessels to transport Iranian petrochemical products.

After using East & West to purchase the two vessels, Mokhtari transferred ownership of the vessels to other entities. Another entity, Greenline Shipholding, was used to control the operations of the LPG vessels.

Mokhtari faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison as well as being hit with fines of close to $3m. Sentencing is scheduled for April 3.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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